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- Deputies responded to a Hiram home on Eagles Nest Drive at 7:30 a.m.; a toddler found an unsecured gun and accidentally shot a sleeping visitor.
- Officials call it a tragic accident and urge secure firearm storage and locks to prevent such incidents, says Jordan Youdis of Paulding County Sheriff’s Office.
- No one has been charged; the investigation is ongoing, amid criticism over Georgia's relaxed gun laws including permitless carry.
A 3-year-old accidentally shot and killed a 19-year-old in Paulding County, according to the sheriff’s office. Kabrel Patterson was identified as the person killed on Monday.
According to the department, deputies were called to a residence on Eagles Nest Drive in Hiram at 7:30 a.m. in connection with a gunshot. According to investigators, Patterson was killed when the 3-year-old discovered a gun at the house and unintentionally shot him.
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“The facts are the facts, from the time that we got there, and they haven’t changed. It’s just unfortunate,” said Jordan Youdis, Paulding County Sheriff’s Office chief communications officer, according to Atlanta News First.
The teen victim brought the gun as he visited relatives at the house on Sunday, according to investigators. Police believe the teen put the gun down before going to bed. The toddler woke up at around 7 a.m. on Monday, according to investigators, while the other nine to twelve occupants in the house were asleep.
According to officials, the toddler accidentally shot the teen while he was sleeping. The teen died at the scene despite deputies’ attempts to save his life, according to the sheriff’s office. Although there was a mix of families living in the house at the time, investigators revealed that the toddler and teenager were not related.
“He has no recollection of what he did, or the consequences that are life-altering because of it. It’s one of the more unfortunate things we have to deal in our line of work is accidents like this,” Youdis said.
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Officials describe it as a tragic accident that serves as an eye-opening lesson about gun safety and storage.
“Have the proper place to store your firearm, and have a lock on. And, of course, it goes without saying, keep your guns away from children. Even if think, ‘I’ve talked to my child about the importance of gun safety, they are in a safe, all these types of things.’ These things happen time and time again across the country that are so easily preventable,” said Youdis.
According to the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office, no one has been charged with the crime, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Georgia, however, has some of the weakest gun restrictions in the nation, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. In 2017, the legislature enacted a law mandating that colleges and universities legalize firearms on campus. Georgia then passed permitless carry legislation in 2022, repealing its previous foundational policy.
Though Georgia removed its Citizens’ Arrest law in 2021, the state still has the hazardous Shoot First law, which permits a person to kill another in a public place even if they can safely walk away.
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