Deputy charged in shooting death pulled trigger twice on gun he thought was unloaded, report says

Brevard County Deputy Andrew Lawson pulled the trigger twice on what he thought was an unloaded pistol when he accidentally shot and killed his roommate and fellow deputy Austin Walsh in Palm Bay early Saturday, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrest report.

Sheriff Wayne Ivey called the incident an "extremely dumb and totally avoidable accident" in a video update posted to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Facebook page Sunday.

But the incident, which flies in the face of basic firearms and law enforcement training, has raised many questions, including about BCSO training standards and discipline.

Roy Bedard, a professional police consultant and use-of-force expert, told FLORIDA TODAY that law enforcement officers are usually rigorously drilled in the safe handling of firearms. "All police officers should abide by the cardinal rule that if you either have a real firearm or what appears to be a real firearm, that you treat it with the safety mechanism of not pointing it at someone unless you intend to shoot them, ever," Bedard said.

"If there is nothing else, I pray there is a lesson learned from this tragedy," Ivey said in the update, without providing further detail.

Investigators said Lawson, 22, was "playing with a firearm" when he told them he pointed a Glock 34 9mm pistol at Walsh that he believed was unloaded and pulled the trigger, according to the redacted report.

"The firearm did not go off, and Lawson manipulated the firearm by pulling the slide back," the report said. "Lawson again pointed the firearm at Walsh as he pulled the trigger a second time."

When he pulled the trigger again, the gun fired, striking Walsh in the face below his right eye and killing him, the report said. Walsh was 23 years old, Ivey said.

Lawson told investigators he had checked that the pistol was unloaded before pointing it at Walsh but said "he should have known the magazine containing ammunition was possibly in the firearm by the weight of the gun," the report said.

More:Brevard deputy killed in off-duty incident in Palm Bay

More:Brevard deputy charged in accidental shooting death of Deputy Austin Walsh

He immediately called 911 and reported the incident, the report said. An FDLE spokesperson on Monday said Lawson turned himself in to authorities.

Lawson is charged with manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. FLORIDA TODAY has reached out to his attorney, Alan Landman.

Bedard, who has consulted or served as an expert witness in hundreds of use-of-force cases, said there were still many unanswered questions around the shooting.

"You'd want to know what happened leading up to this," Bedard said. "Why did you point a gun at your friend? Was it a case of bravado? Were you showing off, somehow? Was there some sort of argument?"

It was also fair to ask whether alcohol or drugs may have been involved, he said. The fact the two men were playing a video game sometime before the shooting may also be relevant, he said.

The arrest report stated Walsh and Lawson had been playing Call of Duty, a popular war-themed shooting game that can sometimes be played with controllers fashioned as realistic-looking weapons. Cases in which someone picked up a real weapon thinking it was fake are rare but not unheard of, Bedard said.

Nevertheless, he said, the circumstances surrounding the case were highly unusual.

"The initial story is that it was a terrible accident," Bedard said. "The fact that he allegedly pulls the trigger, and then racks the weapon with a magazine in it makes you wonder if perhaps it's something more."

Ivey did not give further details Sunday or say whether any follow-up firearms safety training was planned for agency staff.

A spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office referred all questions to the FDLE.

The arrest report stated the FDLE, which investigated the shooting, was contacted about the case by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, but a later statement from an FDLE spokesperson said the agency became involved at the request of Palm Bay city police.

Ivey declared in 2017 the agency would "police its own" and no longer routinely ask the FDLE to investigate shootings involving its officers, though he didn't rule out calling in state investigators on specific cases.

Tod Goodyear said in an email that the incident was a death investigation, not a duty-related officer involved shooting. "There has been no BCSO involvement or BCSO requests associated to the investigation," he said.

Goodyear referred further questions to FDLE and Palm Bay police.

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter: @EricRogersFT.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Arrest report details shooting death of Brevard Deputy Austin Walsh