A two-year-old Texas boy has shot his mother and one-year-old baby with a loaded gun he grabbed from the central console of the family car.
The shooting, described as accidental by the police, happened at around 11.25 am on Wednesday in the parking lot of a Walmart on US Highway 377 in Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Police in Granbury said the gun went off when the 2-year-old took it from between a seat and the central console while in the car with a 1-year-old sibling and with their 23-year-old mother standing outside near the driver’s side door.
The woman was wounded in the arm and chest, and her baby suffered an injury to the leg, reported Mail Online.
The children’s 26-year-old father was standing near the vehicle’s rear and was unharmed, police said.
The mother was airlifted to a hospital in Fort Worth in serious condition, and her 1-year-old was taken by ambulance to another hospital, said police Lt. Russell Grizzard.
Their conditions are unknown at this time.
Police are still investigating and have not yet determined if any charges will be filed against the parents, Grizzard said.
”It’s possible,’ Grizzard told Local 12. ‘It’s too early in an investigation to determine if any criminal charges are going to be appropriate, but we will look into that.’
The names of the parents and children have not been released.
Jerry Patterson, a former Texas senator in a Facebook post advised parents:
“Handguns should be carried, or secured away from toddlers and teens, not left in the car, on the nightstand, or in a dresser drawer, etc.
“And don’t claim “a 2 year old isn’t strong enough to pull the trigger”.
“A 2 year old likely isn’t strong enough to pull the trigger on a double-action revolver but is strong enough to pull the trigger on a striker-fired semi-auto pistol. SECURE YOUR FIREARMS!”