PROVO — Police are investigating a shooting incident Monday at the Provo City Library. No one was injured.
Just after 5 p.m., a 61-year-old woman entered the library at Academy Square and fired one round from a .38-caliber revolver into the floor, according to police.
The bullet ricocheted into a table and a man who knew the woman disarmed her, police said.
Provo city spokeswoman Raylene Ireland said the woman appeared to be distraught and crying, with witnesses saying the woman had a "heavy smell of alcohol about her." The woman was on the first floor of the library.
Security guard Brye Williamson said he was on his way to investigate a report of a woman drinking beer in the northwest corner of the new section of the library when the gun was fired. He said a man who appeared to be in his 30s took the handgun from the woman and unloaded it.
Witnesses said there was little reaction from library patrons.
"I can't believe no one cared after Trolley Square," said Brett Nielsen, who was browsing through movies close by and heard the shot.
Williamson said the investigation was kept to a back corner to make sure everything was calm and secure.
"We didn't want anyone to panic," he said.
He said currently there are no measures to ensure that weapons don't come into the library — just that books don't get taken without being properly checked out.
Less than an hour after the incident, the library was calm and patrons quietly waited to check out their books as police escorted the woman out of the library in handcuffs.
Provo Police Lt. John Geyerman said the woman was intoxicated and was taken in for a mental evaluation.
E-mail: asnyder@desnews.com