Whether riding around on toy fire trucks, watching Paw Patrol or chasing the family dogs, 2-year-old Kayden Stuber was rarely apart from his grandma.

Bekki Gunter quit her job to stay in their Greenville home and help raise the boy so her daughter, the boy's mother, could go to work, Kayden's grandfather Tim Gunter said in an interview with The Greenville News on Friday afternoon.

“The first thing you’d hear when you wake up, you’d hear him pitter-patter right in my room, 'Grandma? Papa?' ” said Tim Gunter. “She would have him in the morning until he went to bed, basically.”

Kayden and Bekki Gunter had just returned home Thursday afternoon when she put her purse on her bed and went into the bathroom, Tim Gunter said.

Inside her purse was a teal-colored Glock pistol.

Within seconds, Kayden managed to unzip the purse, pull the weapon from a holster within the purse and pull the trigger, Tim Gunter said.

The child shot himself in the face, according to Senior Deputy Coroner Kent Dill.

Despite attempts by a family member to stop the bleeding, Kayden died.

"Nobody understands the situation. We're probably one of the safest families around as far as weapons," Tim Gunter told The Greenville News less than 24 hours after the shooting.

Tim Gunter said both he and Bekki Gunter are concealed weapon permit holders and trained in firearms safety. They decided to carry firearms in response to crime in the area and wanted to carry protection to feel safer, he said.

"No matter where you go, there's crimes, so we decided to actually get our CWPs," Tim Gunter said. "It was in her purse, zipped and sealed. You would never think he'd be smart enough, but he actually is."

"We're still in shock":Coroner IDs Greenville 2-year-old who died after accidentally shooting himself

Greenville County deputies were called to their single-story brick home on Dronfield Drive around 1 p.m. Thursday. Investigators questioned the family and confiscated the firearm involved in the shooting. The incident is still under investigation by the Greenville County Sheriff's Office and Coroner's Office.

The Greenville News has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for investigative reports from the shooting and the 911 call about the shooting.

"This is so tragic," Dill said Friday. "This is kind of what we focus a lot of attention on but certainly we are so sorry for this family for what they're having to deal with."

According to the state's Child Fatality Advisory committee's 2018 annual report, one third of South Carolina households with children 18 years old or younger have a gun in the home. More than half of those firearm owners keep their guns loaded and accessible, the report states.

South Carolina saw three accidental fatal shootings involving children in from July, 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, according to the report.

There were 238 child fatality cases reviewed during that time period, according to the report.

Sixty-six, or 27.7 percent, of the child deaths in that time frame involved a firearm, the report states.

Numerous child safety advocacy groups offer best practices for how to store and handle firearms inside homes as an attempt to lower child fatality rates.

Prevention:Safest home for children is one without guns, child safety advocates say

Kayden Stuber 'was so loved'

Kayden's parents, Tala Gunter and Ryan Stuber, lived in Tim and Bekki Gunters' home. Kayden was their only child and the Gunters' only grandchild.

"Kayden was my life. He was my baby," Bekki Gunter said.

He was a typical 2-year-old boy, picking up new words, mimicking family members, laughing, running and exploring, and his inquisitive spirit got the best of him, Tim Gunter said.

"He was a ham. He loved to get into stuff," Tim Gunter said. "He's getting into all kinds of different stuff. You could go in here and in five minutes glitter could be all over the place."

Sometimes Tim Gunter would honk his vehicle's horn while driving and Kayden would laugh and say, 'Beep beep.'"

"He was an awesome, awesome child," Tim Gunter said. "That kid was so loved it's not even funny. He was everybody's world."

An 'accident' left 2-year-old dead

Tim Gunter said he wants the gun destroyed, and if he ever gets it back from the authorities he plans to destroy it himself.

"That gun's evil now as far as I'm concerned," he said.

He also said he plans to get rid of all of his Glock pistols. Glock does not include a manual safety feature in its pistols but rather a safety mechanism on the trigger itself, according to the company website. The intent of the safety feature is to prevent accidental discharges if dropped, the website states. Tim Gunter believes if a manual safety button was used, it may have prevented the shooting.

"If that had a safety and he squeezed it, nothing would have ever happened," he said. "This wasn't a careless thing. This was definitely an accident."

The family is reeling from the loss. They're not eating and they're not sleeping, Tim Gunter said.

"I am having a extremely hard time with this right now," Bekki Gunter said.

Public scrutiny surrounding allegedly irresponsible gun ownership and child safety is adding to their suffering, Tim Gunter said.

"People come to conclusions: 'They're just stupid people with guns laying around,' That's not what it is at all," Tim Gunter said. "It's not fair people are judging and being such judging people."

The family has felt support from neighbors, friends and the company Tim Gunter works for, he said.

Coworkers have pitched in with helping the family and paid to put family members in a temporary home while they sort out the tragedy, Tim Gunter said. They also paid to have a company come to the house to clean.

Coworkers also set up an online fundraiser through gofundme.com that had raised more than $3,000 in 16 hours. The fundraiser goal is $6,000.

The effort is to raise enough money to help cover the cost of a funeral for the family, said Bryan Hooper, who said he is part of the their "work family."

"They know damn well we wouldn't have let anything happen to the baby," Tim Gunter said. "My wife blames herself."

The family is now planning a funeral, but no date has been set yet. Tim Gunter plans to go to businesses that teach gun safety to share their story so instructors can use it as a warning in CWP classes.

"The only thing that I kind of regret in my life is that I got her a teal gun that looks like a toy," Tim Gunter said with tears in his eyes as he stood on his front porch. "Probably the worst thing I could have ever done in my life when I think about it."

Daniel J. Gross covers public safety and breaking news for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross.