A police officer shot and wounded a woman in the Billings Clinic emergency department Sunday evening while responding to a report of an individual with a “loaded gun” threatening to shoot herself.
The Billings Police Department said in a news release Monday the unidentified 36-year-old woman shot herself once as officers entered the hospital. They made contact with her in the triage area of the emergency department, where they found her with a "single self-inflicted gunshot wound."
Police say a two-year veteran of the department shot the woman once as she picked up the handgun.
The woman received medical attention. No charges have been filed.
The officer, identified as Blaine Lane, is on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation.
This is the fifth police shooting in Billings this year. A man was injured in August; three other shootings were fatal.