Flagler County deputy facing charges after stray bullet grazes boy

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. - A former Flagler County deputy is facing a misdemeanor after a stray bullet grazed an 11-year-old boy last year.

The 7th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office filed a culpable negligence charge – a misdemeanor under Florida law – against Master Deputy Bryan Jackson – after an investigation into an off-duty shooting incident at his home in August 2025.

Since the formal charge, Jackson has been reassigned to administrative duties, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.

Jackson no longer has the authority to act as a Law Enforcement Officer, the sheriff's office told FOX 35. He'll only deal with administrative tasks assigned to him, the sheriff's office said.

11-year-old child shot

What we know:

An investigation was launched in August after a report from the Flagler County Sheriff's office said Jackson was shooting target practice with his daughter, another deputy, in the backyard with an agency-issued rifle.

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According to investigators, Jackson was shooting the rifle at a berm in his backyard, when a stray bullet grazed an 11-year-old boy who was playing video games in a nearby home. The berm was about four homes away from where the child was shot, the sheriff's office said.

The shot looked like "burn marks to his wrist and then like a burn blister-like up on his neck," FOX 35 previously reported.

Charged months later

Jackson was not charged at the time of the incident. The formal charge of culpable negligence comes eight months after the incident.

The deputies were off duty at the time of the shooting.

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Jackson now faces a charge of culpable negligence, the sheriff's office announced Thursday, April 30.

"This was a very thorough and comprehensive investigation that took time and included a recreation of the incident and a forensic firearm analysis by FBI experts in Quantico, Va.," chief of staff Mark Strobridge said in a release.