Columbia, CA – The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of the 21-year-old Sonora man who died after accidentally shooting himself while attending a gathering in Columbia.
The deceased is Derek James Matthews. As we reported on Tuesday (12/17), he was at a gathering in Columbia on Saturday (12/14) evening in the area of Columbia Street near Cemetery Lane, off Italian Bar Road. Witnesses told responding deputies that Matthews told them he had a gun and when he pulled it out to show them, it went off, hitting him in the head.
Matthews died on Sunday at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto.
This post was last modified on 12/19/2024 5:27 pm
Written by Tracey Petersen.
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