LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A 12-year-old boy was fatally shot at his home in Lady Lake on Monday and now, investigators say they believe he was the victim of a terrible accident.
“This is that one of those calls that deputies don’t want to ever go to -- and paramedics. No one wants to go to where a child has been hurt,” said Lt. John Herrell with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
He said they were called to the home on Singletary Road at about 9 a.m. and when they arrived they found Jeremyah Wyatt dead.
“We went out there and found a young man deceased. He’s 12 years old,” Herrell said. “It appears that this young man accessed an unsecured gun in the home and accidentally shot himself.”
Herrell said the boy lived at the home with his father and step mother. He said there were also three other children in the home -- a newborn, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old.
He said it was a call that deeply affected the first responders who arrived.
“Deputies, police officers, firefighters -- they’ll carry the stuff around and they act very tough and they carry it well, and they present it well,” Herrell said. “We all knew inside that it was bothering us.”
He said counselors were brought in to help them.
Herrell added they will be turning over the findings of their investigation to the Office of the State Attorney to decide if any criminal charges should be filed.
For now, the investigation is ongoing, he said.
