Reed told the officer who responded that he was standing, holding his AR-15 rifle in front of the military recruiting station to guard the personnel inside when someone approached him and asked if he could take a look at the weapon. Reed agreed to show him, and while he was trying to clear the ammunition from the weapon, he accidentally fired into the asphalt pavement.

The only damage was a hole in the pavement. The rifle was taken from Reed pending his appearance in court, the incident report says.