Sheriff: 3-year-old dead after shooting himself in DeLand

Deputies are investigating after the 3-yearold son of a state corrections officer fatally shot himself with a gun he found inside a nightstand at his family’s home in DeLand on Wednesday night, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told reporters at a news conference.

The child’s parents had left home to go grocery shopping at an area Publix store and left the boy’s 16-year-old sister in charge, Chitwood told reporters Thursday morning. The kids’ 7-year-old brother was also at home when the shooting happened, the sheriff said.

“Clearly, you have to say it, this should never have happened,” Chitwood said. “This should not have happened. We should not be standing here having this conversation.”

The Sheriff ’s Office has not publicly identified the boy or his parents. In a statement

Wednesday, the agency said the shooting occurred around 6:30 p.m. at the family’s home on the 2400 block of Nectarine Road in DeLand’s Daytona Park Estates community.

“My little brother shot himself!” the boy’s distraught sister said in a call to 911 that was released Thursday, as she wept and struggled to breathe. “... My parents were at the store and I was watching them and I was in my room... and my little brother shot himself in the head!”

Arriving deputies found the boy wounded and attempted life-saving measures until medical personnel arrived and took him to AdventHealth DeLand, an incident report said. He was pronounced dead at 7:03 p.m.

Chitwood said the circumstances of the boy finding and firing the gun were still under investigation.

“We don’t know exactly how, but the little guy got into the bedroom, got into the drawer and discharged the firearm once,” he said.

The weapon was a Canik 9mm handgun, Chitwood said. He noted the trigger pull weight required to fire the gun, 4.6 lbs, is well below the 7 lbs of pressure required to fire the revolver that he carries.

The gun was not a state-issued service weapon, Chitwood said. Another gun, a Glock, was found atop the refrigerator in the home, while a gun safe in the bedroom was found to be “inoperable,” he said.

“We’re looking into how long that safe has been inoperable,” the sheriff said.

Chitwood said the Florida Department of Children and Families had been called in to supervise the parents’ contact with their surviving children. A decision on whether to bring criminal charges in the case will be made by prosecutors after the investigation, he said.

“As we do with every case, we will investigate it and we will submit it to the State Attorney’s Office to see where and when, if anything, is going to happen,” he said, adding later: “I cannot imagine there’s anything in the law books that can punish that family more than what happened that night.”

Chitwood said his “biggest concern” going forward was for the mental and physical health of the first responders and dispatchers who were involved in responding to the tragedy, for whom he said the case would be “career-altering and life-altering.”

“My concern is for their health and welfare,” he said. “This was not easy.”

The shooting took place a week after a 3-year-old was shot in Orange County.

The Orange County Sheriff ’s Office said the girl was shot while inside a vehicle. The girl was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Recent data shows gun violence kills more U.S. children than car accidents, as more children are involved in gun-related accidents, suicides, and homicides. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearms were the leading cause of death for kids and adolescents in 2020, the most recent year for which CDC data is available.