Eight-year-old Astin Graham Barnes, known as Lil Baby, was shot and killed in his Columbia, South Carolina, home on the evening of Friday, July 22, 2022. Astin was a student in the Richland County School District and played youth football for the Metro Warriors and the Blythewood Bengals. He was found in a second-floor bathroom with a gunshot wound after a loud noise drew attention; deputies and the Richland County Coroner’s Office responded and confirmed the cause of death as a gunshot wound.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department and the coroner opened an investigation, but the circumstances of how Astin was shot were not immediately clear. The community has mourned the loss of a child described as intelligent, outgoing, and full of spirit.

If anyone has information about what happened that night or saw anything relevant in the area, please contact investigators.