One in custody after juvenile shot, killed in Chesterfield County, S.C., authorities say

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, SC (WBTV) – One person is in custody after a juvenile was shot in Chesterfield County over the weekend.

According to the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to Airport Road in the Mount Croghan area on Sunday, June 5, after getting a report that a juvenile had been shot.

“It’s starting to get harder and harder,” says Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Capt. Wayne Jordan.

Chesterfield County Sheriff’s deputies surrounded the home Sunday night when they were called to a shooting. What they did not expect was a 15-year-old boy dead from a gunshot wound.

“Him and his girlfriend were playing with the gun,” he says.

When deputies arrived, they said they found the juvenile with a single gunshot wound. According to the sheriff’s office, the coroner’s office, EMS and the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division were also called to the scene. Deputies figured out the two were tossing the gun back and forth when the gun went off in the girlfriend’s hands and hit the boy in the chest. The girlfriend, also 15, charged with involuntary manslaughter for his death.

“Because of the recklessness and negligence of having the gun. Them both being 15 years old and she has a gun,” he says.

In some cases, an investigation like this would have taken days to lead to an arrest if one even happens at all. But Jordan says they did not need that much time.

“Taking the facts that we had,” he says. “We had plenty of probable cause to make that arrest.”

While the girl’s mother was in the house, she has not been charged. WBTV asked Captain Jordan why.

”She was in another part of the house. She only heard the shot, came out and found it,” he says.

But Jordan says more charges could be coming as they continue to investigate.

”It’s really tiresome. We have to continue going to these mothers and fathers and telling them their child is deceased over recklessness, over negligence, over unnecessary stuff. And it’s just getting…it’s really getting old.”

Investigators said a suspect had been taken into custody. The name of that person and the victim’s name was not released.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting were also not immediately known.

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.