TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)— A Tampa man was arrested after a 3-year-old was injured by an unsecured gun, the Tampa Police Department announced.
Officers responded to the 3600 block of N 51st Street on Tuesday after reports of a child with a gunshot wound to the arm.
According to officers, initial reports revealed that at around 7:14 p.m., the child had been in bed with his mother and her boyfriend, Steve Johnson, 30, when he allegedly left a gun unsecured in the bed after getting up to use the restroom.
Credit: Tampa Police Department
The boy then gained access to the gun, which discharged, and hit him in the forearm.
The boy’s mother immediately rendered aid and called 911. The boy was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“It is incredibly fortunate that this was not a fatal tragedy,” said Chief Lee Bercaw. “This incident highlights the double danger of a convicted felon unlawfully possessing a firearm and then failing to secure it. A gun should never be within reach of a child. There is no excuse for such negligence when the cost could easily have been a young life.”
During an investigation, detectives learned that Johnson was a convicted felon who was unlawfully in possession of a firearm.
Johnson was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, child neglect with great bodily harm, safe storage of firearms, and possession of cannabis less than 20 grams.
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