A police officer in Harrisonburg, Virginia, was stable after having accidentally been shot during an attempt to stop a loose cow.
Officers were responding to an animal complaint Saturday night after a cow escaped a stockyard earlier in the day, the Harrisonburg Police Department said. The cow was found near a 7-Eleven a short time after the call.
Officers intervened after ranchers were unable to capture and contain the cow. An officer was struck by a bullet in the lower body and transferred to UVA Medical Center for a non-life-threatening injury.
The department is investigating whether the officer was shot by a fellow officer or by someone else trying to stop the cow.
Because of injuries sustained during the attempt to wrangle the animal, authorities decided to euthanize it.