Colorado Springs police are investigating after a police officer may have randomly been shot at unprovoked Tuesday night as he sat in his cruiser.

The Colorado Springs Police Department says it was about 8 p.m. Tuesday when Officer Mike McCormick was completing paperwork in his police cruiser at the northwest corner of Arcturus Dr. and 8th St. when he heard a very loud bang, much like a gun shot.

The officer inspected the vehicle but found no damage at first but as he drove away to respond to another call, he noticed the driver's side mirror was distorted. "Whether it was a firearm or a pellet gun, we don't know. It was something that was moving fast enough and hard enough that it broke the mirror and the casing. If it had been pointed in direction of officer, it could've hurt him seriously or killed him," says Sgt. Steve Noblitt with the Springs Police Department.

The projectile had missed Officer McCormick's left arm by little more than a foot.

The Colorado Springs Police Department is still investigating the incident.

"We train our officers to respond to critical incidents such as that. If we have reason to believe that someone is using deadly force against us, we are going to respond with deadly force," says Sgt. Noblitt.

If detectives track down the shooter, that suspect potentially faces attempted murder of a police officer.

If you were in that area on Tuesday night and saw anything suspicious, police want to hear from you. Call Crime Stoppers at 634-STOP.