Associated Press
PASADENA, Md. (AP) - A 20-year-old man riding in a car with his girlfriend was mistakenly shot in the face by an FBI agent who was seeking a bank robber.
Joseph Charles Schultz was in serious but stable condition Sunday at a Baltimore hospital. He suffered a gunshot wound to the cheek, said Charles Ravenell of the Anne Arundel County police.
Schultz, who works for a medical company, has no connection to the bank robbery, FBI officials said.
Schultz and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Krissy Harkum, were pulled over in Pasadena late Friday, authorities said.
FBI agents were attempting to serve an arrest warrant based on the description of a bank robber, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
There was no immediate word where or when the bank robbery occurred; FBI and Anne Arundel County officials did not return calls Sunday from The Associated Press.
Harkum’s father, Joseph Harkum, said the agent ordered the two to put their hands up, and then fired, hitting Schultz once. Krissy Harkum was sprayed with glass and blood but was not injured, he said.
Schultz, of Orchard Beach, was unable to speak while being treated at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. But he wrote his girlfriend a note asking, “Why did he shoot me?” Joseph Harkum said.
“Here you got two of the sweetest kids on the Earth going to the mall and having Slurpees, getting shot through the car window. It’s a mess,” Joseph Harkum said.
The FBI would not identify the agent who shot Schultz and said it would not release information while the investigation was underway.
FBI spokesman Peter A. Gulotta Jr. said Anne Arundel County police will investigate and present evidence to a grand jury, and an FBI unit from Washington also will investigate and give its findings to the Department of Justice.
Schultz’ attorney, Joseph Asensio, did not return calls to his home or office Sunday.