SLED charges Sumter man with involuntary manslaughter after accidental gun discharge

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has charged a Sumter man after an accidental discharge of a firearm killed another man.

Sumter Police Department requested SLED investigate the death of 35-year-old Travis Desmond Rouse, 35, of Acres Avenue after he was dropped off at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital before 7 p.m. on the evening of Nov. 23. He died later that evening.

According to SLED, Xavier Daichaun Bennett, 23, and Rouse were at a home on Utah Circle that November evening. Both men allegedly recklessly pointed firearms at one another “with no regard to the safety of each other or others that were inside the residence,” SLED said.

While doing so, Bennett mishandled his handgun and "negligently and unintentionally" discharged the handgun one time, striking Rouse in his upper torso, according to SLED.

Bennett then drove Rouse to Prisma Health Tuomey for medical treatment before he fled from the hospital in his vehicle.

Bennett was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Friday, Dec. 13, and booked at Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center, according to SLED. He remains in custody awaiting bond.