Toddler kills man with his gun inside crowded Paulding home, deputies say

A loud bang jolted occupants of a crowded, two-story Paulding County home Monday morning, prompting a frantic 911 call requesting help from deputies.

The woman told authorities that she had woken up to find a toddler holding a black Glock handgun in the living room, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Next to the child on the sofa, a 21-year-old man wasn’t moving, she said. The woman, whose name was unintelligible in the audio recording, told the dispatcher he wasn’t responding.

In new details released Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said the 3-year-old boy had picked up a handgun belonging to Kabrel Patterson, who was a visitor at the home and not related to him. The child then fired an accidental shot that struck Patterson as he slept, killing him, deputies said.

According to an incident report, the Atlanta man was found lying on the right side of the couch. About a dozen people were at the beige house near Hiram when deputies arrived.

“There were so many people in that home,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Jordan Yuodis told the AJC.

Patterson was placed on the floor after the shooting so deputies could perform CPR, but first responders pronounced him dead at the scene. The handgun was found nearby on the couch and a bullet was still racked in the chamber, a deputy stated in the report.

After speaking to several people who were also asleep at the home when the gunshot occurred, the sheriff’s office said detectives determined the child found the gun and “accidentally fired it.”

Yuodis said no arrests would be made because it was Patterson’s gun.

The sheriff’s office has not detailed how the boy got ahold of the weapon, and it’s unclear if the child’s parents were in the home at the time of the incident. Several people whom the sheriff’s office reported were there at the time of the incident did not respond to the AJC’s requests for comment.

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Anyone who has more information about the shooting is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 770-443-3047 or submit a tip via the mobile app.

“This is a heartbreaking situation for everyone involved,” the sheriff’s office said. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident.”

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

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