THE PALM COAST OBSERVER
Palm Coast, Florida
Sunday, February 1, 2015
PALM COAST MAN DIES IN APPARENT HUNTING ACCIDENT
By Jonathan Simmons
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.
Officers were still investigating the shooting at the time Flagler County deputies submitted their initial incident report.
THE DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL
Daytona Beach, Florida
February 11, 2015STATE PROBE CONTINUES INTO FATAL SHOOTING OF HUNTER IN FLAGLER BEACH
By Tony HoldPALM COAST — Andrew Todd Brendel was fatally wounded while hunting for nuisance wild hogs in Flagler Beach two weeks ago and state investigators are still trying to determine exactly out how the 43-year-old Palm Coast man was shot in the stomach.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, which responded first to the Jan. 29 shooting near Sugar Mill Lane, initially reported it as a possible hunting accident.
Brendel was accompanied by Darnell Hippolite, 19, of Palm Coast, deputies said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took over the investigation and no one there has confirmed whether Brendel’s death was an accident.
“It’s still open on our end,” Greg Workman, an agency spokesman, said Tuesday.
“We’re still fact-finding.”
Deputy Shane Meehan responded to the area of Sugar Mill shortly after 6 p.m., when dispatchers said Brendel may have been shot accidentally, according to a sheriff’s incident report.
Witnesses and paramedics told Meehan that Brendel had said he tripped, causing him to accidentally shoot himself with his .22-caliber Winchester rifle, the report states.
Hippolite heard a rifle shot and Brendel told him to call 9-1-1 because he had shot himself, Meehan said.
Hippolite said he put down the rifle he had been carrying, grabbed Brendel’s .22-caliber rifle, and walked Brendel to the front of a house on Sugar Mill where Brendel’s mother lived, according to the report.
Brendel’s rifle was later found behind a couch inside the home.
Meehan said it had one spent round in the chamber and 11 live rounds remaining in the magazine.
Hippolite’s rifle was later found in the woods near an oak tree and had one live round in the chamber, two in the magazine and four on the stock, deputies said.
Brendel died at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach about two hours after the shooting, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
