Apparent accidental shooting wounds man outside Derby VFW

A shooting outside the Derby Veterans of Foreign Wars Post that is being treated as accidental so far sent one person to a hospital Saturday, officials said.

According to 911 dispatch supervisors, someone possibly dropped a gun that discharged, hitting and critically wounding a 26-year-old man in the chest around 12:17 p.m. The VFW is at Baltimore and Washington in Derby.

Derby police Lt. Jimmy Queen said Saturday evening that the man’s condition had improved and he was no longer in critical condition. Queen said he couldn’t say much about the shooting other than it appears early in the investigation to be an accident and that the person shot was taken to a Wichita hospital. The VFW was planning a fundraiser Saturday, which was canceled because of the shooting, Queen said.

Police had yellow tape up blocking a street beside the VFW and were taking photos of pavement behind the VFW where the shooting apparently occurred.

This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Apparent accidental shooting wounds man outside Derby VFW."