MERRIMACK, N.H. —  Police believe a court baliff's pant leg may somehow have caused his weapon to fire last week at Merrimack District Court.

Bailiff Logan Crocker was wounded in the ankle when his pistol went off while in an ankle holster last Thursday.

Police say Crocker was not handling the weapon at the time. But Deputy Police Chief Mark Doyle told the New Hampshire Union Leader that Crocker was moving his trousers or hiking them up, and something along his trouser leg may have grabbed the hammer or trigger and caused the weapon to fire.

Doyle also said Crocker had approval to carry the weapon.

The weapon will be examined at the state police lab to see if it was functioning properly.