PALM BAY, Fla. (WFLA) – New particulars have emerged in regards to the weekend demise of a 23-year-old sheriff’s deputy in Florida.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office stated Austin Walsh was shot and killed early Saturday by his roommate, fellow deputy Andrew Lawson, of their Palm Bay house.
In an update posted to Facebook, Sheriff Wayne Ivey stated Walsh and his roommate have been taking a break from enjoying on-line video video games with associates when Lawson pointed a gun at him and pulled the set off.
The sheriff stated Lawson “jokingly” aimed the gun at Walsh, pondering it was not loaded.
Lawson known as 911 and reported that he had unintentionally shot Walsh and was “fully distraught and devastated” when Palm Bay officers arrived, Ivey stated.
Officers discovered Walsh inside the house with a single gunshot wound.
Lawson faces a manslaughter cost. He was being held with out bond on the Brevard County Jail.
Ivey described the incident as an “extremely dumb and avoidable accident,” saying it “not only took the life of an amazing young man and deputy, but it has also forever changed the life of another good young man who made an extremely poor and reckless decision.”
He stated Lawson and Walsh have been “the best of friends.”
“If there is nothing else, I pray there is a lesson learned from this tragedy,” Ivey added.
The Palm Bay Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are nonetheless investigating the taking pictures.
Walsh joined the sheriff’s workplace at age 18 after serving as a public security officer and spending a number of years within the division’s Explorers youth program.