Giacomo Bologna

GBOLOGNA@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The manager of Ozark Motor Company said he didn't hear the shot ring out Friday morning, but from inside his office on Chestnut Expressway he heard a woman yelling and saw her waving for help.

Nathan Everding initially thought the baby inside the woman's car was in trouble, then he said he saw the blood on the pavement.

"I just shot myself in the foot," the woman said, according to Everding.

Everding said he called 911 while instructing another employee to get some paper towels.

An ambulance, a fire truck, some Springfield police cars responded to the scene. After the woman was transported to a hospital, several police officers could be seen gathered behind a blue Ford Focus where a baby in a car seat was waiting to be picked up by a family member, according to Cpl. Matt Shackelford.

The woman was unloading her pistol in her car when she accidentally fired at her foot, Shackelford said, and she was taken to the hospital. The injury was not life-threatening, he said.

Everding, the manager, said the young woman came into his office earlier that morning with a handgun visibly holstered on her hip.

He said he found it "odd" that she felt the need to open carry in the office of a car dealership, and he jokingly pointed it out.

Shortly after, the woman went to her car, and that's when she accidentally discharged it, he said.

"I'm glad it wasn't more serious," Everding said, but added maybe next time she should leave the gun in the car.

It's unclear at this point if police will submit the incident to prosecutors for charges to be filed.