A 25-year-old woman was arrested after a toddler accidentally shot a five-month-old baby in the Tampa, Florida.
Officers from the Tampa Police Department were called shortly after 1 p.m. local time on Sept. 3 after a three-year-old child injured the child’s thigh.
The infant was taken to a Tampa hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Although the relationship between the woman, identified as Paula Marie Concepcion Santos, and the children is unclear, she was in the same home at the time of the incident.
Mrs. Concepcion Santos claims that the boy “accidentally fired the gun after picking up the weapon.” She was arrested and charged with child neglect causing grievous bodily harm.
Investigators are looking into the details to determine how the shooting happened.
“While we are incredibly grateful that this infant was not fatally injured, this should serve as a reminder to any parent or guardian to immediately go and check that their weapon is properly secured,” said Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor.
“Children should not have access to firearms and furthermore, guns should always be kept in a locked safe and ammunition should be kept separate. Don’t subject your child’s life to carelessness,” she added.
In a separate shooting incident in a Florida area on Thursday, a five-year-old boy was seriously injured after accidentally shooting himself with a firearm he found in his bedroom.
Aston Simmons, 28, was arrested and charged with child neglect and improper possession of a firearm, authorities said. The police department was alerted to the incident via a call at the same time Mr. Simmons took the child to St. Joseph’s Hospital in the Apala Beach area.
Officers reportedly found marijuana and cash, as well as drug paraphernalia, in the man’s home.
Mr. Simmons and the injured child are not related, the sheriff’s office said.
