A police worker was accidentally shot by a gun specialist during a lecture on firearms awareness at the Thames Valley force’s headquarters.

The wounded man, who is in his fifties, was reported to be in a serious but stable condition yesterday in the John Radcliffe hospital, Oxford, after surgery for a wound to his abdomen.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission will now examine how a 9mm Glock pistol came to have a live round, why the safety catch was not on, and whether the officer checked the status of the gun before the lesson.

Eleven call operators were attending the session in Kidlington, Oxford, on Wednesday when the gun went off as the officer – a member of the force’s tactical firearms unit – was demonstrating how it worked.

“A shot ran out and one of the class was shot in the stomach from fairly close range,” a police source said. “There was a lot of blood and pandemonium broke out. Someone put in a 999 call from their mobile phone and two ambulances rushed to the police headquarters,” the source said.

One police source said the firearms officer had been suspended from duties during the investigation. He could face a disciplinary hearing in front of the deputy chief constable or possibly charges.

The source said: “The question uppermost in everyone’s mind is why on earth the gun was loaded when it was being used as during a demonstration in a classroom.”

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