Man accidentally fires gun in restaurant
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 10:57 p.m. MDT
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PROVO — Want a 9mm bullet with that fettuccine alfredo?

One Olive Garden patron got a bit more at lunch than he planned Wednesday after his concealed weapon accidentally discharged.

The man was seated in the bar area of the Italian restaurant, 504 W. 2230 North, when he tried to adjust his 9mm pistol in his hip holster, said Provo Police Lt. John Geyerman.

Somehow the gun fired and a bullet became lodged in the man's chair. No one was injured in the 1:15 p.m. incident and the slug was later recovered by police.

Several patrons report hearing what sounded like a balloon popping, but they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Barbara Kunzler said she was eating her lunch with some friends and they were talking about all the recent shootings in the news.

"Then all of a sudden the gun went off," she said. "I didn't see it, but it was definitely a gun."

She said several of the servers moved quickly to see what was wrong, and their server came back and said it wasn't something that had dropped, but it was indeed a gun that had accidentally discharged.

Just before 2 p.m., Provo police led the 39-year-old man out of the back of Olive Garden in handcuffs and drove him away in a police car.

Geyerman said it was just a precaution and would give them a chance to interview him in a less crowded area to ensure that the shot was purely accidental.

The man, who has a valid concealed weapons permit, was taken to the Provo police station and interviewed, then released with a citation for discharging a firearm within the city limits, Geyerman said.

"You have to be careful," he said. "You don't want to be messing with (your gun) in your holster."

Geyerman said the gun was kept by Provo police for safekeeping until the Bureau of Criminal Identification can determine what to do with the man's permit.

After the shooting, lunch continued as normal with many patrons leaving who were completely oblivious to the shot.

"What? I was in there!" One woman exclaimed when told why news media were gathered outside the restaurant.

Would the same occur if the patron was an off-duty or retired law enforcement officer?

"Somehow the gun fired". Man that is a worn out explanation. Like its some huge mystery how 99% of guns happen to fire.

More like, somehow the trigger got pulled.

Interesting to see how the story ends up. Guy might just have donated his 9mm to the local PD.