Paulding Teen Killed By Douglasville Man Playing With Gun: Police

PAULDING COUNTY, GA — A Douglasville man remained in jail Wednesday after shooting to death a Paulding County teen in Florida, apparently by accident, on Labor Day.

Spencer Chase Pruitt, 24, told investigators that a game he often plays with a handgun — pointing it and pulling the trigger — went wrong when his loaded gun killed 19-year-old Victoria Lynn Busch Monday at a Panama City Beach condo.

According to an affidavit from investigators with the Panama City Beach Police Department, Pruitt “does not know why his gun fired a round this time,” reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Police arrived after 3 a.m. Monday at the Top of the Gulf condos, where they found Busch with a gunshot wound to the neck. She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Pruitt was charged with negligent manslaughter. According to the Atlanta newspaper, Pruitt’s bond was set at $200,000. He remains in the Bay County Jail in Panama City as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Busch was a 2019 graduate of North Paulding High School who attended Georgia Northwestern Technical College. A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses.

Busch is survived by her parents and a younger brother. Funeral arrangements are pending.