The 2-year-old son of a Clay County sheriff's deputy was struck in the foot by a shattered bullet fragment and sustained minor injuries when his father's personal handgun accidentally discharged into the floor of a Middleburg fast food restaurant where the family stopped for lunch.
Bullet fragments bouncing off the floor also struck the boy's grandfather as well as two female customers who were standing nearby. Neither the boy nor the three adults required medical treatment. However, all were examined at the scene by county emergency medical personnel, according to a Sheriff's Office incident report.
Clay Sgt. Matthew Magish was off duty and standing in line with his son and the boy's maternal grandparents at the front counter inside Wendy's, 2530 Blanding Blvd., when the accident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the report released Monday.
The boy was nicked in the right foot. Magish was tending to his son when deputies arrived.
Magish couldn't be reached for comment. He has been with the Sheriff's Office since February 2001, said Mary Justino, agency spokeswoman.
He had been carrying his personal .380-caliber Kel-Tec semiautomatic pistol inside the right front pocket of his pants, when it went off.
Magish said his son "stuck his hand into his pocket looking for a snack and that the firearm had discharged," Deputy J.R. Holmes wrote in the incident report.
The boy's grandfather, Rodney Hutchings, had minor cuts to his right front shin area and left ankle. He said his grandson apparently grabbed his father's gun causing it to fire when he stuck his hand into his father's pocket, Holmes wrote.
The two female customers told Holmes they were standing in line ahead of Magish and his family at the front counter when they hear a loud noise. One woman said she felt something hit her left ankle and right thigh area. She had red marks where the fragments hit her. The second woman said she felt something hit her right ankle and upper left arm. Her ankle had a red mark and there was a small amount of blood on her arm, according to Holmes' report.
Both women said when they turned around after hearing the shot, they saw the boy had an injury to his foot, and his father had a hole in his pants pocket.
The restaurant floor wasn't damaged, nor was any other property. Sheriff's Office crime scene technicians collected several bullet fragments from the scene, according to the report.
Magish remains on duty as investigation continues into the accident, said Justino, who declined further comment.
Copyright 2014 - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
