Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott stated that on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at approximately 9:30 AM a Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy’s son accidentally shot himself.

While the deputy was in the bathroom preparing for his day, he heard a gunshot – the deputy found his four year old son lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the upper body. His son was rushed to Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

Sheriff Lott stated that the son was accidentally shot with the deputy’s off duty weapon and that this was an unfortunate and tragic situation. Sheriff Lott stated that we will keep the family in our prayers during this emotional time.

Each Deputy at Richland County Sheriff’s Department is issued a gun safety lock box to store their service duty weapon. Sheriff Lott offers these safety tips to ensure the safest environment for your family if you have weapons in your home:

· Take the ammunition out of the gun

· Lock the gun and keep it out of reach of kids

· Lock the ammunition and store it apart from the gun

· Store the keys for the gun and the ammunition in a different area from where you store household keys. Keep the keys out of reach of children

· Lock up gun-cleaning supplies, which are often poisonous

· Talk to your family members about gun safety

Sheriff Lott states that children should know the four steps of how to react in event they are ever faced with seeing a gun within reach, teach your kids to:

1. Stop

2. Don’t Touch

3. Leave the area

4. Tell an adult

Sheriff Lott states that things can happen in the blink of an eye with our children. Let’s work together to keep them as safe as possible.