A Pennsylvania state trooper was accidentally shot dead during an annual gun training exercise, Tuesday.
David Kedra, the 26-year-old trooper, was shot in the chest during the training exercise at the Montgomery County Public Safety training complex in Conshohocken, near Philadelphia at 4:45 p.m. local time. He was airlifted to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators did not disclose the identity of the instructor who shot him and did not say if he was a member of the state police, reports abc Action News.
"It's with an extremely heavy heart and deep sorrow that I announce the tragic death of Trooper David Kedra of Troop K, Skippack station," State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said in a statement Tuesday night.
Noonan said that Kedra, who was a state police member since 2012, is the 96th state police officer to be killed in the line of duty in the department's history, reports Reuters.
In a statement, Noona said, "He died serving the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the men and women of the Pennsylvania State Police mourn his loss and extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends."
Around two dozen police cars and motorcycles took Kedra's body from the hospital to the medical examiner's office. All fire and EMS training was cancelled at the Montgomery Training Campus, reports CBS News.
This incident is being investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Montgomery County District Attorney's office.
According to the Montgomery County website, the public safety complex provides classrooms and training centers, including a gun range and a "live fire shoot house" used to train police "in close quarters combat and high risk entries."
