PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — Police say that a 5-year-old playing with a gun shot and injured a 3-year-old girl in Colorado.
The girl was in critical but stable condition Monday after the shooting but it wasn’t clear how she was doing Tuesday. The Pueblo Chieftain reports (http://bit.ly/1o8xdqm) that police believe two other children were playing with a handgun in the backyard of a home.
Police say a 9-year-old boy got the handgun from the house and that a 5-year-old got the gun and pointed it at the girl. The gender of the 5-year-old was not disclosed.
The victim’s mother was home at the time but hasn’t been identified.
The child who shot the 3-year-old will not be charged with a crime. But the mother’s boyfriend, who owns the gun, 22-year-old Adrian Chavez, was arrested and faces child abuse charges for allegedly leaving the weapon unattended.
Chavez, who was wanted for failing to appear in court in another matter, fled after the shooting but was found later. He was being held on $200,000 bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
Police said the 9-year-old who first took the gun said he learned how to handle the weapon from video games.
Craig Jay said he was painting a house nearby at the time of the shooting when he heard what he thought was a large firecracker. A few minutes later he saw a fire truck arriving and saw a woman run out of the house holding a limp child.
“She was screaming and they told her to take the child back in the house and they all ran in the house,” he said.
The shooting comes less than a week after a 5-year-old girl in Idaho died when she was accidentally shot by another 5-year-old.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain, http://www.chieftain.com
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