Aiken County 3-year-old shot, becoming a victim of disturbing trend

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - New details emerged Tuesday on the shooting of a 3-year-old boy that’s under investigation by the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office – one of two child shootings in Aiken County within 24 hours.

The incident with the 3-year-old happened around 3 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of Tab Drive, according to deputies.

That’s in a small mobile home park at Dry Branch Road and Chime Bell Church Road south of the city of Aiken.

A newly released incident report revealed new details about that shooting.

An arriving deputy found the 3-year-old lying on a couch with a gunshot wound to his head area, according to the incident report. The child was still breathing and moving, according to deputies.

The deputy saw a gun on the table area directly across from the couch. It had a shell casing jammed inside it. The deputy removed the magazine and secured the gun in a patrol car.

A deputy applied pressure to the boy’s head until emergency medical crews arrived and rushed the child to a hospital.

One person in the mobile home reported calling law enforcement after seeing the child with a gunshot wound, and another reported being awoken by the sound of the gunshot and then seeing the child wounded.

Deputies say the case is under investigation, presumably to determine whether it was accidental and whether anyone will face charges.

The incident report lists two people as witnesses – a man born in 1999 who lives in the mobile home and a woman born in 2002 who is not a resident.

The person who called law enforcement is a man also born in 1999 who lives in the mobile home.

And someone listed as a “suspect” in the report is also a resident of the mobile home, also born in 1999. The “suspect” is the same person who told law enforcement he was awoken by the sound of the gunshot.

The “suspect” has not been arrested, according to Aiken County jail records, and neither has anyone else listed in the report.

For that reason, we’re not reporting their names at this time.

Sadly, on Monday night, a 10-year-old girl was fatally shot in Windsor in an apparent accident while a family member was handling a gun.

Gun violence involving young children isn’t unheard of in our area.

Going back to January this year a 5-year-old accidentally shot himself, sending him to the hospital.

Last year we reported two four-year-olds died from accidently shooting themselves in separate incidents.

It’s a grim reminder that unintentional injury is a leading cause of death among U.S. children under 17, and firearms are a leading injury method, according to the CDC.

From 2003 to 2021, there were more than 1,200 cases of children under 17 dying from gun violence.

That’s according to data from the CDC’s national violent death reporting system.

The data shows roughly 83% of these deaths occurred among boys.

Children aged 0–5 years ed for roughly 29% of unintentional firearm injury deaths.

Within the last year, police arrested several family after they say several local children are a part of these numbers

In May 2023, 4-year-old Phoenix Daniels shot herself with her dad’s gun in Grovetown. She died a month later.

In November 2023, just days before his 5th birthday, Zykee Ryans died after shooting himself with an unsecured gun in Augusta.

We still do not know the condition of the 3-year-old shot Monday morning and police say it’s too early to say whether the child shot himself.

The mobile home park was very quiet Monday, with no movement.

Several neighbors told News 12 that everyone keeps to themselves there.

None of them had details on the incident.

They said they didn’t hear anything, and only woke up to blue lights outside their window.

There was no answer at the home an ambulance was called to, although a car was in front and the porch light was still on

Officials also confirmed to have found a firearm inside the home.

However initial and unconfirmed reports indicated the child was shot in the head.

Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said his office has not been called in on the case.

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