HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Police said a Morgan County sheriff's deputy who was shopping while off duty shot a man in the buttock at a Huntsville Walmart this afternoon.
The deputy told police he recognized a suspect with active felony warrants, and confronted him, according to officers on the scene. A spokesman for Huntsville Police said in a news release the deputy was trying to make an arrest inside the store.
When the man ran from the deputy, a shot was fired, an officer on the scene said. The shooting took place at the Walmart on South Memorial Parkway at about 1:30 p.m.
The gunshot wound was not life-threatening, and Huntsville police officers are guarding the man at Huntsville Hospital, a police spokesman said in a news release.
Accounts differ on whether the shooting was intentional or accidental. The deputy told Huntsville Police investigators the shooting was an accidental discharge, an officer at the scene said.
However, a witness told police and AL.com news partner WHNT News 19 that the deputy squared off before firing at the man as he fled. Officers at the scene said surveillance video will be reviewed in the investigation.
A perimeter was set up outside the store this afternoon, but shoppers were still allowed in the store.
Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin told WHNTthe Alabama Bureau of Investigations is handling the case along with the Huntsville Police Department.
Check AL.com for more information as it becomes available.
UPDATED at 3:10 p.m. to correct the location on the man's body where he was shot.
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