The shooting death of an 18-year-old, who was not a Georgia Southern University student, in the university’s Freedom’s Landing housing complex last Thursday afternoon was accidental, Bulloch County Coroner Jake Futch said Monday after receiving autopsy results from a GBI Crime Lab.

Both the Statesboro Police Department and the Georgia Southern University police responded when Bulloch County 911 dispatched emergency services around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24. Officers found Kelsey Parrish, 18, since identified as from Swainsboro, with a single gunshot wound, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation media release.

Parrish was transported by the Bulloch County Emergency Medical Service to East Georgia Regional Medical Center, where he was dead on arrival, Futch said.

The GBI release, obtained Monday upon request but available since last week, indicated that Parrish’s body had been taken to the GBI Crime Lab in Pooler for an autopsy and referred to an investigation as “active and ongoing.” But Futch, when phoned Monday afternoon, indicated he had learned the results of the autopsy.

“The results came back as an accidental shooting,” he said. “So, it will be ‘self-inflicted’ … but not intentional.”

When officers from more than one police agency responded Thursday, Georgia Southern University police had immediate jurisdiction, since Freedom’s Landing, at 211 Lanier Drive near Paulson Stadium, is part of the university campus. In the Statesboro Police Department’s initial incident report, an SPD patrol officer logged his response only as “assisting another agency,” noted that a handgun was involved and stated that he remained on the scene to assist Georgia Southern University police until more officers arrived.

The GBI release stated that Parrish was not a Georgia Southern student. Asked to clarify, GS University Communications Director Jennifer Wise emailed Monday that according to the university’s records, Parrish had never been enrolled at Georgia Southern.

“Non-students cannot live in on-campus housing but they are allowed to visit,” Wise wrote in response to another question from the Statesboro Herald.

Police were initially dispatched for “shots fired in the area of Freedom’s Landing.” In a university safety notification issued at 4:12 p.m. that day, the Georgia Southern University Office of Public Safety advised students and employees to avoid the area but also stated that “no foul play” was suspected at the time.

Mosley’s Funeral Home in Swainsboro is handling final arrangements for the deceased and gives his full name as Kelsey Terrell Parrish Jr.