In Temple, Texas, a 4-year-old accidentally shot a 7-month-old baby.
Eyewitness Bradley Martin described the scene in the aftermath of the shooting and said he saw what looked like a “lifeless-looking baby” being taken to an ambulance.
Investigators at the Temple Police Department are working on the case, but according to reports, police are treating the shooting as accidental.
No details were available at the time of reporting as to the type of weapon used or how it got into the hands of the 4-year-old.
“If you’re going to own guns lock it up, that’s all I can say,” said Martin, who told KWTX that moments before hearing sirens he saw the 4-year-old playing in the yard while his mother was mowing the lawn.
Temple Police Department spokeswoman Shawana Neely said that the woman at the property at the time of the incident was the mother of one of the children. The shooting is believed to have taken place inside the house.
Newsweek reported that there was a sign outside the home that read “The average response time of a 911 call is 23 minutes. The response time of a .357 is 14 hundred feet per second.”
“I’m not there to judge them, but in my family, it happened once with my cousin,” Martinez told the station. “My cousin killed accidentally my other cousin. It happens. Accidents happen.”
Speaking to KWTX, next-door neighbor Marta Guillen praised the family.
“The woman is good people, a good mother, a stay at home mom who doesn’t work and stays home with her children,” Guillen said, according to the station.
Guillen and her husband also told KWTX the family had surveillance cameras overlooking the front and backyard so they could watch the children outside.
“I hope the baby’s OK, and I hope the family is going to be alright,” said Ami Fontenot, another neighbor. “And if they’re going to have guns, take precautions, obviously.”
