Police returned Thursday to the North Waco gas station where an off-duty police officer who intervened in a dispute between the store’s manager and a woman who had just been fired and drew his gun, which discharged.

The officers could be seen digging in a grassy area near the station, but police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton declined to comment on what they were looking for, saying only that the investigation was ongoing.

On Wednesday, an attorney for a woman involved in the disturbance said the officer went too far when he drew his weapon.

She wasn’t struck, but the percussion from the discharge sent her to a local hospital.

"To shoot at somebody inches away from her head, inches away--instead of having this interview we could be planning a funeral right now,” said Dallas attorney Billy Clark, who represents Miesha Brown, 24.

The off-duty officer was in the store during the disturbance, which erupted after Brown was fired Tuesday afternoon.

A store manager who asked not to be identified said Brown lost her temper and knocked down some things in the store including a computer monitor.

He said the off-duty officer told her to stay put while he called Waco police, but Brown ignored the order and left the store.

The manager said the officer followed her, and confirmed that a shot was fired outside the store, but added, “I don’t think the officer meant to do that.”

Brown spent the night in a local hospital after complaining of head and ear pain following the incident at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Chevron station at 3315 Hillcrest Dr., which drew a heavy police response.

“Responding officers were able to determine an off-duty officer, from an outside agency was at that location when a disturbance between an employee of the gas station and management of the business started,” Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said in a press release Tuesday

“During the disturbance the off-duty officer intervened and a weapon was discharged. No one was injured during the incident,” he said.

Police declined to identify the officer involved in the incident or the agency for which he works, but Clark went to the Valley Mills Police Department Wednesday afternoon to serve notice of intent to file a police complaint and a civil suit against the town’s police Chief, Clifton Ryals, 37.

Clark and Brown also filed a report Wednesday with Waco police.

Clark says the officer clearly overreacted.

"It's an African American woman not threatening anybody, no weapons in her hands, nothing, Clark said.

Police initially said Texas Rangers would investigate, but officials later determined the Waco Police Department will handle the case.

Calls seeking comment from Ryals and Valley Mills officials weren’t returned Wednesday.

Ryals officially started his duties Nov. 6 after getting council approval on Oct. 21.

Ryals, a former K9 deputy with the Bosque County Sheriff's Office, started his law enforcement career as a reserve officer with the Valley Mills department in 2011 and then worked for the Clifton Police Department.

Prior to that, he worked as a teacher's aide and coach at the Valley Mills ISD for about five years after graduating from Valley Mills High School in 2001.

(Clint Webb , Risha Shaw and Drake Lawson contributed to this story)