Police: Rock Hill toddler killed by self-inflicted gunshot wound

A toddler died Sunday afternoon after he got hold of a gun and shot himself in a Rock Hill home, police say.

Savion Barrow, 3, was taken by EMS ambulance from his home on Amelia Avenue to Piedmont Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead by hospital staff shortly after his arrival, York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said.

Capt. Mark Bollinger, spokesman for the Rock Hill Police Department, said Savion somehow got his hands on the gun and shot himself.

Sunday’s shooting was the second by a toddler in Rock Hill in just a month.

Last month, Rock Hill police charged the great-aunt of a 2-year-old boy with unlawful carrying of a gun after the child was able to get the gun while in the woman’s car, accidentally shooting the child’s grandmother. The grandmother survived.

Neighbors were stunned Monday that the boy had been killed, and confirmed that they had heard – as police have released – that somehow he was able to get his hands on a gun.

“It is just terrible,” said neighbor Tonya Hamm.

Hamm said police were at the house for hours on Sunday.

Other neighbors were also shocked Savion’s death, saying he often played outside.

There was at least one other child, a 10-year-old girl, and at least four adults in the home at the time of the shooting, according to a police report.

An autopsy is scheduled for later today.

No one has been charged in connection with the shooting, Bollinger said.

“The detectives don’t want a lot of information out because it’s an active investigation,” he said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.