Deputy fired after accidentally shooting her daughter, 11 at Halloween party
LINCOLNTON, N.C. -- An off-duty Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been fired after she accidentally shot her 11-year-old daughter while she was reportedly showing off her service weapon at a Halloween party.
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. Neighbors tell CBS affiliate WBTV she had been hosting a Halloween party attended by children at the time of the incident. Police say the gun discharged accidentally and the bullet went through a wall and struck her daughter in the abdomen in the next room.
The girl was airlifted to a medical center, underwent surgery and 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.
“It’s a great relief to know she’s going to be okay, that she’s going to recuperate from it. If she would have lost her life in this accident, it would have been a tragedy for this whole community,” neighbor Clyde Queen told the station.
Flowers has been with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office since 2015 and worked for the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office before that, the station reports.