At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Midtown apartments in the Town of Port Royal to a report of a 12-year-old male with a gunshot wound.
At the apartments, Port Royal Police Department officers advised deputies that the incident occurred approximately an hour earlier at the Shell Point Park and the wounded juvenile was transported to the Beaufort Memorial Hospital (BMH) for treatment. Port Royal officers also advised the juvenile reported he was shot in the leg by masked subjects in the park.
Interviews of witnesses at the park conflicted with the juvenile’s story.
Ultimately, the juvenile admitted to being in possession of a handgun he had taken from an aunt — without her knowledge — and accidentally shot himself in the leg.
Deputies searched the park and found the handgun hidden along a trail.
After receiving treatment, the juvenile was released from BMH.
As of this time, the incident remains under investigation; no one has been charged.
