FBI agent who accidentally shot someone after a back flip has turned himself in

Chase Bishop. Photo / Denver Police Department

An off-duty FBI agent who accidentally shot someone after his gun flew from his holster as he was doing a back flip inside a Denver bar has turned himself in and is expected to face criminal charges.

Chase Bishop, 29, is being held for investigation on second-degree assault, said Doug Schepman, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department. The Denver District Attorney's Office has not filed formal charges against Bishop, but spokeswoman Maro Casparian said charges will likely be announced tomorrow.

The Denver Sheriff's Department inmate database shows that Bishop was booked in the Downtown Detention Centre today. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer.

The investigation of Bishop was over an incident that took place a little more than a week ago inside a bar near downtown Denver.

A 32-second video obtained by ABC affiliate KMGH shows the agent in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by patrons, some of whom can be seen with their phones out. He jumps up, arching his back and swinging his arms above his head. As he is about to land his back flip, his gun flies out from the holster at the back of his pants.

As he picks up the gun from the floor, it fires.

Police said a patron was struck in the lower leg and was taken to a hospital. The incident happened at about 12.45am local time on June 2 at the Mile High Spirits bar. The agent was taken to police headquarters and later released to a supervisor with the FBI.

Authorities have not said what kind of gun the agent was carrying, or why it accidentally fired. Schepman said he can't say whether the agent had been drinking that night.

Special Agent Amy Sanders, a spokeswoman for the FBI field office in Denver, declined to comment on Bishop's employment status with the agency.

The man who was shot, Tom Reddington, told Good Morning America last week that he and his friends were sitting at one of the tables when he heard "a loud bang" that he thought was a firecracker.

"Then I looked at my leg and see some brown residue . . . I'm still thinking it's a firework . . . all of a sudden from the knee down my leg became completely red," Reddington, 24, said. "And that's when it clicked in my head, 'Oh, I've been shot.' "

Colorado gun laws allow "qualified current and retired law enforcement officers" to carry concealed handguns.