LINCOLNTON, N.C. (AP) – An off-duty Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been fired after she accidentally shot her 11-year-old daughter while she was showing off her service weapon.
Lincoln County Sheriff David Carpenter confirmed that Misty Michelle Flowers was fired on Monday.
Carpenter said in a news release that Flowers was negligent while showing the handgun to friends Saturday night at her house. The gun discharged and the bullet went through a wall and struck her daughter in the abdomen in the next room. The girl is expected to recover.
Carpenter says Flowers’ firing came independent of a State Bureau of Investigation probe currently underway regarding the shooting.
The Sheriff’s Office policy says firearms are expected to be locked away when they are at a deputy’s home.