A DEFECTIVE partition is being blamed for a shooting incident Wednesday night.

A defective Plexiglas partition between the front and rear portions of a Garden Grove Police Department patrol car is being blamed for allowing a man seated in the back seat to get at a semiautomatic rifle and fire one shot Wednesday night.

In a press release issued on Thursday, Lt. Carl Whitney stated that the locking mechanism was defective in the partition in the incident in which Stephen Edwards, 22, of New York was able to then “disengage the rifle from its locked position in the front passenger compartment.” The shot struck no one. Matthews surrendered to police after about three hours. He was waiting to be taken to a nearby hospital after police were summoned to Morningside Recovery on 13th Street near Brookhurst Street around 9:25 p.m.

As a result of the incident, all GGPD cars have been inspected and “corrective measures have been taken, including review of our policies and procedures.”