Brooksville man shot, killed while playing with gun

BROOKSVILLE ⁠— A man was shot and killed early Thursday by the gun he was playing with while waiting for a haircut at his own home, deputies said.

The shooting was reported at about 6:30 a.m. at a home on Oakcrest Circle, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. Two men went to a convenience store then returned to the home. One prepared to cut the other’s hair.

The man who was going to have his hair cut sat down on a bucket outside his bedroom door. As he waited for the haircut, he started “playing with his firearm, as he always does,” the other man told deputies.

The gun then discharged, fatally wounding the man holding it.

He was pronounced dead when the first deputy arrived on scene.

Deputies said further investigation revealed “the possibility, if not the likelihood” the wounded man was under the influence of drugs, or alcohol, or both while using the firearm.

The Sheriff’s Office is calling the death a “horrible accident” based on witness statements and forensic evidence. The agency did not release the names of either man involved in the incident.

The agency also did not say what kind of weapon was involved or how it was obtained.