Retired Long Beach Officer Under Investigation for Threats Against BLM Activist Accidentally Shoots Himself Inside Gas Station

A retired 54-year-old police sergeant suffered a wound to his lower body when he accidentally fired a gun while inside a gas station in Long Beach, police said Saturday.

Officers were dispatched about 7:30 p.m. Friday to the gas station in the 3000 block of Bellflower Boulevard regarding a report of an accidental discharge of a firearm.

The injured man was identified as Long Beach resident Jeffrey Garcia and no one else was injured in the shooting. A handgun was recovered at the scene and booked into evidence, the Long Beach Police Department reported.

Garcia was taken to an area hospital for the non-life threatening gunshot wound.

The former lawman was recently named in a separate investigation into threats made against a Black Lives Matter activist. Garcia is one of three former LBPD officers being investigated for allegedly writing violent threats against the activist on a private Facebook page for California law enforcement officers.

"At this time, it is not believed that this incident is related to that investigation," the LBPD said in a statement released Saturday.