Harold Gater

The Clarion-Ledger

JACKSON, Miss. — A woman who dropped her purse is in jail Friday after the gun inside it discharged and wounded another woman waiting in a doctor's office.

Debra Romedy McQuillen, 58, of Philadelphia, Miss., was at Lakeland Family Medicine Center on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus Thursday when she had the mishap.

► May 2016:He shot trooper's attacker

► April 2016:Mom's gun goes off in ER

An ambulance transported the victim, whose name was not released, to the nearby hospital's emergency room. Her wound to the leg is not believed to be life threatening.

Campus police arrested McQuillen and booked her into the Hinds County Detention Center. She was charged with possession of a stolen firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and simple assault — all misdemeanors — according to the jail website.

Mississippi has one of the most permissive gun laws across the USA, allowing a person "constitutional carry" privileges of having a concealed firearm without a state-issued permit. However, the building where the incident occurred had signs outside forbidding firearms on the premises.

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► January 2016:Boy dies after sibling finds handgun in Mom's purse

► February 2015:Boy, 3, wounds mom and dad with one shot

► December 2014:Toddler reaches into purse and gun goes off, killing mom