Great-aunt arrested on gun charge after Rock Hill boy, 2, shoots grandmother

The great-aunt of the 2-year-old Rock Hill boy who picked up her .357-caliber revolver and accidentally shot his grandmother was charged Thursday with unlawful carrying of a handgun.

Daisha Adawn Ervin, 24, of Greenville, who works for the state Department of Corrections in its youth offender program as a supervision officer, appeared before a judge Thursday afternoon for a bond hearing.

“It was an honest mistake,” Ervin told the judge. “It is not what the media has portrayed. I am not the person the media has portrayed at all. That’s not me.”

A judge set bond at $3,000 for the misdemeanor charge, which carries penalties of up to one year in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Ervin legally owns the gun and was driving at the time the child found it and shot his grandmother, according to the arrest warrant.

This is the first time Ervin has been charged with a crime in South Carolina, according a check of State Law Enforcement Division records.

Ervin is an intensive supervision officer with the S.C. Department of Corrections Division of Young Offender Parole and Re-entry Services assigned to York County in the Upstate section, said Stephanie Givens, a spokesperson for the corrections department. Ervin was hired in September 2014, Givens said.

Under Department of Corrections guidelines, Ervin has 24 hours to report to her superiors that she has been arrested, Givens said.

Ervin told the judge Thursday, “I work for the Department of Corrections.” She also listed her employer as the Department of Corrections when she was booked, said Capt. Mark Bollinger, a Rock Hill Police spokesman.

Ervin was released on bond about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. When a reporter asked about her employment with the Department of Corrections, Ervin responded, “That’s incorrect information.”

It is unclear if Ervin will face any disciplinary action from the corrections department. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, Givens said.

The grandmother of the 2-year-old was shot in the back Sunday as the vehicle traveled through the intersection of Ogden Road and Heckle Boulevard in southern Rock Hill.

The grandmother, who has not been named, was injured in the Sunday shooting, but later released from a hospital.

Police allege that Ervin stored the handgun in a pouch on the back of the front passenger seat of her 2010 Chevy Camaro.

“This placement resulted in a 2-year-old rear passenger finding the revolver and firing a shot through the front passenger seat,” striking the child’s grandmother, the arrest warrant states.

State law requires a gun be stored in an enclosed compartment while being transported in a car. Bollinger said the boy was sitting on a pillow with a seat belt on.

“If the child would’ve been restrained in a car seat, we probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation,” he said. “If the gun was stored in a proper location per South Carolina law, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Police declined to say why detectives pursued the illegal carry charge and not other charges, saying the decision on what charges to file is part of the investigation. Bollinger said that, ultimately, officers and investigators have discretion as to what charges to make.

Rock Hill Police Detective Brad Sims told Municipal Judge Tonesha Lonergan on Thursday that Ervin “has shown remorse” and “fully cooperated with the investigation.”

Ervin told police on Sunday that, after hearing the gunshot, she turned around and saw her great-nephew holding her handgun, crying. The boy was not injured.

Before the shooting, the boy’s relatives had picked him up from another family member’s home, according to police. After the gun was fired, Ervin drove to a family member’s home on nearby Stanley Drive, where they called police.

Ervin told reporters as she left the Rock Hill Law Center on Thursday afternoon that she hasn’t retained an attorney.

“Just live life. God’s working,” she said when asked what comes next for her. “I’ve taken a lot (from this) but it’ll all settle out.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Great-aunt arrested on gun charge after Rock Hill boy, 2, shoots grandmother."