Inmate grazed by ricochet bullet from FBI target practice near L.A. jail
A Los Angeles County jail inmate in Castaic this month was grazed by a bullet from a nearby shooting range used by the FBI, law enforcement officials said Friday.
The incident happened Aug. 9, when the inmate — who has not been identified — was on a porch outside the inmate housing barracks at Pitchess Detention Center South Facility, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The inmate reported the incident to jail staff, who discovered that several vehicles had also been struck by bullets.
It’s not clear how seriously the inmate was hurt, but officials said an “injury report was completed.”
When a mobile shooting range caught fire in early October, it wasn’t the first time the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department suffered such an incident.
The county’s northern-most jail complex has long housed outdoor shooting ranges, including one typically used by the FBI, which Sheriff’s Department investigators identified as the source of the errant bullet.
After the incident, the department closed the range, although an official said other ranges at the Castaic facility are still in use.
Last year, the Sheriff’s Department also shut down its network of mobile range trailers after one caught fire outside the Castaic complex, injuring one deputy and killing another.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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