SC deputy’s 4-year-old son shoots himself

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Richland County sheriff’s investigators say a deputy’s 4-year-old son shot and wounded himself with his father’s personal gun.

Sheriff Leon Lott says the shooting occurred late Wednesday morning as the officer was getting ready for work. His name was not released.

The boy was in stable condition at Palmetto Health Richland Memorial Hospital.

A spokesman says the man had laid out his clothes and equipment for work and had stepped into the bathroom when the boy shot himself in the chest.

Lott says deputies are given a gun safety lock box for their service revolvers at home. But the gun involved was not the officer’s service weapon.

Officers are trying to determine how the youngster obtained the gun.