Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy shoots himself in the hand while cleaning weapon at Vero Beach High School.

VERO BEACH – On Friday morning, an Indian River County Sheriff’s Deputy was injured while attempting to clear his weapon.

The firearm discharged into his hand with the bullet striking him between his ring and middle fingers. The incident happened at the Vero Beach High School, where training was scheduled for the day.

Supervisors and other staff had not yet arrived on scene, however other deputies were present.

Deputies on scene provided immediate first aid, applying a tourniquet and gauze until EMS arrived. The deputy was transported to Indian River Medical Center for treatment of this non-life threatening injury.

No students were on campus at the time of this incident. The projectile was recovered and did not cause any damage to the school.

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About Andy Hodges

Andy Hodges was born in Annapolis, Maryland. When he was age 9, his parents moved to Jupiter, Florida. Andy spent several years at various radio & television stations in Florida such as WLIZ, WFLX-FOX 29, WIRK, WIXI, WKSY, WRMF, and WJNO to name a few. In 1994, Andy made a career change to computer programming and worked for several technology companies (two are Fortune 500) in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Andy returned to Florida and settled in the small town of Sebastian in 2002. In 2005, he returned to the broadcasting news sector and eventually joined our news team in 2016 as editor in chief. Andy's family has lived in Sebastian for more than 45 years.