Police arrested a law enforcement deputy from Florida after he fatally shot his roommate and best friend in the head in what authorities termed a foolish and avoidable accident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement charged 23-year-old deputy Andrew Lawson with manslaughter over the death of his fellow deputy, Austin Walsh, was also 23 years old, over the weekend.
Wayne Ivey, Brevard County Sheriff, spoke during a video news release on Facebook, saying that the unfortunate incident happened on Saturday, December 3, at a home the two men shared in Palm Bay.
Lawson and Walsh took a break from playing the popular video game, “Call of Duty,” which features a lot of shooting when Lawson took a gun and started pointing it at Walsh jokingly. Walsh thought the gun was unloaded, and he pulled the trigger.The gun did not go off the first time, reinforcing his belief it was an unloaded gun.
Lawson then manipulated the Glock 34, a 9 mm semi-automatic gun, by pulling back the slide. He jokingly pulled the trigger a second time; this time, Walsh was not so lucky.
The gun fired a single shot, which went straight into Walsh’s head, killing him instantly.
Lawson called authorities around 1 am, saying he had shot a man. Palm Bay police officers quickly responded to the scene and found Lawson outside the home. They discovered Walsh’s lifeless body inside the house and detained Lawson immediately.
Both the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Palm Bay Police Department were involved in investigating the incident.
According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson, the agency arrested Lawson and charged him with manslaughter, adding that he turned himself in.
Lawson told the police that he believed the weapon was unloaded, so he jokingly pointed it at his friend and pulled the trigger. He said he should have known it was loaded by the sheer weight of the gun.
Sheriff Ivey said that Lawson looked distraught and devastated over the incident that left his best friend dead when the police got to the home and that he was cooperating with the investigators fully.
The Sheriff called the incident “unnecessary and avoidable,” saying that it cut one person’s life short and would change another young man’s life forever because of his reckless and poor decision.
Sheriff Ivey condoled Walsh’s family and paid tribute to him in a statement released on Facebook. He said that Deputy Walsh had been with the agency for five years, that he was a great person, and the agency and the community would miss him dearly.
Police arrested Lawson and took him to Brevard County Jail. He had his first court appearance on Monday, and a judge set his bond at $15,000. The judge ordered him to move in with his mother and forbade him from possessing any firearms or ammunition.
Although further details about the incident are unknown and the investigation is still ongoing, police trainers teach cops never to point a gun in the direction of something or someone they have no intention of shooting.
Manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years if convicted. Lawson’s next court appearance will be in January 2023.