Mom charged for negligent gun storage after accidental shooting of 3-year-old son

Evan McKenna
·2 min read

Demetria Williams, 27, turned herself in Monday and was charged with a felony after her 7-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old brother in their Ridgeland home. The Halloween tragedy was the second time in two years her 7-year-old son had fired a gun in the home, according to the Ridgeland Police Department.

Last week, police notified her family of a felony warrant out for her arrest for unlawful conduct toward a child, which led to her surrender. She was released Monday on a $25,000 bond, according to department spokesperson Lt. Daniel Litchfield.

Investigators say Williams’ 7-year-old son found the loaded pistol in a box under a bed in the families’ mobile home at Carters Mille Estates, located off of Ridgeland’s Main Street. The container was not able to be locked, allowing the child to pick up the gun and inadvertently shoot his 3-year-old brother in the back on Oct. 31 around 2 p.m., according to reporting from Bluffton Today.

The boy, whose name has not been released, was taken to Coastal Carolina Hospital and died of his injuries later that evening. Williams had left the children at home a couple hours earlier without arranging proper supervision for the children, according to a press release from Ridgeland police.

Williams’ felony charge carries, upon conviction, a 10-year maximum sentence, according to South Carolina law.

Police had been called to that residence for another accidental gun discharge two years prior, when the same child accessed a gun and accidentally shot a washing machine. Ridgeland officers gave the family a warning and a gun lock to secure the firearm following that incident, Litchfield said.

The S.C. Department of Social Services was also notified of the first incident, according to Litchfield. Following the child’s death, all of Williams’ children were taken into custody and turned over to the care of a great-grandmother.

Law enforcement encourages all gun owners to store their firearms unloaded and in a lockable container, Litchfield said. Still, South Carolina is one of 24 states without child access prevention laws, making it more difficult to prosecute gun owners for failing to keep firearms away from minors.