911 Center Shooting Sees One Dispatcher Accidentally Kill Another While Trading Guns: Police

A 911 operator inadvertently killed a coworker at a dispatch center in Kentucky on Friday, police said.

The Bell County Kentucky Sheriff's Department said that two dispatchers at the center were trading firearms when one of the guns accidentally discharged and killed 23-year-old Kyle Garrett.

Sheriff Mitch Williams said that Garrett and Colton, the other dispatcher, were "cousins and best friends."

"They grew up together and shared the hobby of casual gun trading," he added. "This is a tragedy that you can never prepare for. We are asking for prayers for the family of Kyle and Colton. We also ask that you pray for the dispatchers, deputies, and first responders that work alongside them every day."

Protocols that prohibit non-sworn personnel from bringing weapons into a 911 center were not followed, he added.

The incident is still being investigated, and an autopsy will be performed on Garrett.

The tragedy follows several accidental gun shootings occurring during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In Georgia, a 3-year-old fatally shot his 5-year-old cousin, using a handgun that belonged to his father.

Meanwhile, a teenager accidentally fatally shot a 5-year-old relative in Minnesota. Police said that he was "attempting to make a social media video" and that he was "handling a gun" at the time of the incident.

Another accidental shooting involved a father in Texas who unintentionally shot and killed his daughter with a high-power rifle during a hunting trip. The girl had suffered life-threatening injuries from the gunshot and couldn't be saved at the medical center that she was transported to.

Also last month, a man was accused of accidentally firing a gun at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Kenny Wells was at the security checkpoint when a TSA worker thoroughly searched his bag after seeing a "prohibited item" in the X-ray. Though the agent told him not to touch the bag, Wells pounced to take the gun out of the bag, causing the gun to discharge.

Consequently, thousands of people were running in panic, while Wells fled the scene with the gun and threw it away in a trash can before he left the airport. Authorities found the gun a few days later. Law enforcement kept searching for Wells until he turned himself in at Clayton County jail on Tuesday.