- April 19, 2024
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A 45-year-old Palm Coast man died from a gunshot wound in what deputies believe was a hunting accident Jan. 29.
Victim Andrew Todd Brendel was hunting nuisance hogs with 19-year-old friend Darnell Hyppolite at about 6:09 p.m. when, Hyppolite told deputies, “(Brendel) stated that he tripped while walking through the woods and accidentally shot himself with a .22 caliber rifle,” according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
Deputies arrived at Brendel’s mother’s home on the first block of Sugar Mill Lane, in a wooded community that sits between Bulow Creek State Park and Old Kings Road South, where rescuers were already treating Brendel. He’d been shot through the abdomen, and a deputy wrote in an incident report that he “observed a small hole in Andrew’s shirt with a small amount of blood around the hole.”
Rescuers took Brendel to Halifax Hospital, where he died at about 10:30 p.m.
Hyppolite told deputies that he’d been in a clearing and Brendel was at the woodline when Hyppolite heard a gunshot, and Brendel told him to call 911.
“(Hyppolite) stated that (Brendel) told him that he had tripped and the gun went off and the projectile struck him in the stomach,” according to the Sheriff’s Office report.
Hyppolite told deputies he put down the Winchester 30-30 he was using and took Brendel’s Winchester .22 and walked him to the front of the house, then waited with him for rescuers.
Deputies found the .22 in the house behind a couch were Brendel’s mother said she placed it. It had one spent round in the chamber and eleven live rounds in the magazine.
Hyppolite showed deputies where the shooting occurred, and deputies retrieved his 30-30 about 10-15 feet into the woods next to an oak tree southeast of the Brendel home. The rifle had one live round in the chamber, two in the magazine and four on the stock.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer also joined the investigation. Deputies took both firearms to the Flagler County Evidence Division.
Brendel was arrested for felony possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana in Volusia County on Jan. 13, just more than two weeks before his death. It was his sole arrest on record in Volusia or Flagler.
Officers were still investigating the shooting at the time Flagler County deputies submitted their initial incident report.
