CHICAGO — A security guard whose gun went off during a scuffle on a CTA train, wounding himself and a 16-year-old girl, threw his weapon in a trash can afterward and told police that the teen had shot him and run off, according to law enforcement sources.
The guard, Eric Camp, 38, mentioned nothing to officers about the girl also being wounded, and he admitted what actually happened only after police found his gun, the sources said. He was charged with two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, but not with giving false information to police.
The girl was charged as a juvenile with aggravated battery to a transit worker, robbery and aggravated battery in a public place. Police did not explain the charges, but a police report says she kicked and punched Camp and his partner before a gun in Camp’s jacket pocket went off.
Camp and the partner have been placed on leave from Digby’s Detective & Security Agency, which was hired by the CTA in August to patrol trains and stations. The company could not be reached for comment Friday.
The guards were on a Red Line train around 4 a.m. Thursday when police say they noticed the girl panhandling and approached her as the train neared the Belmont station. During a scuffle, “the firearm that Camp had concealed in the front pouch of his jacket discharged unintentionally,” according to a police report.
Camp was wounded in the left thigh and the girl was grazed in the abdomen.
Moments later, the guards flagged down a police car while running down a street about a block from the station, according to police reports. They told the officers they were chasing a girl who had shot Camp. Around this time, a dispatcher radioed the officers, telling them that a caller reported Camp was shot with his own gun.
The officers patted down Camp and his partner but didn’t find a gun. Camp finally said he had thrown his gun into a trash can down the block, according to the police reports. Officers found the gun with one empty shell casing in the chamber and a loaded magazine.
Both the girl and Camp were treated at Illinois Masonic Hospital and released.
It wasn’t clear whether Camp had a concealed carry license. Even with a license, loaded concealed weapons are prohibited on CTA property.
Digby’s said the two guards have been placed on leave and added that it was cooperating with detectives.
A judge on Friday released Camp on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond, said Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Camp’s next court date is July 2.
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