In Temple, Texas, a 4-year-old accidentally shot a 7-month-old baby.
The infant was rushed to McLane Children’s Hospital on Thursday, March 22, and according to KWKT-TV, was conscious and breathing.
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.
“The police officer carried [the infant] out,” witness Bradley Martin said, the Independent reported. “[The baby] just looked lifeless in his hands. You know what I mean. There was blood all over [the infant]. They put [the baby] in the back of an ambulance and took off down the road.”
But a family member who spoke to KWTX said, “It looked like everything was going to be okay” with the baby boy.
Investigators at the Temple Police Department are working on the case, but according to reports, police are treating the shooting as accidental.
TPD is in scene where a 4 year old has accidentally shot a 7 month old. The 7 month old is in an unknown condition at the Children’s Hospital. #onscene #temple
— Temple Police Dept (@TempleTX_Police) March 22, 2018
Police received a 911 call from a woman at the house, believed to be the children’s mother, Newsweek reported.
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.”
Neighbor Adrian Martinez told KXXV that he would not jump to conclusions.
“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.”
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