![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/arrested-steve-johnson.jpg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Courtesy: Tampa Police Department <\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa <\/a>Police Department has charged a man after a 3-year-old was shot in the arm by an unsecured firearm.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n According to TPD, on April 14 around 7:14 p.m. the child was in bed with his mother and her boyfriend, 30-year-old Steve Johnson. Detectives say Johnson left a gun unsecured in the bed after getting up to use the restroom.<\/p>\n TPD said the child gained access to the firearm, which discharged and struck the 3-year-old in the forearm.<\/p>\n The child\u2019s mother immediately rendered aid and contacted law enforcement. The child was transported to a nearby hospital with stable, non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n Deputies said through the investigation they learned Johnson was a convicted felon and was unlawfully in possession of a gun.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n “It is incredibly fortunate that this was not a fatal tragedy,”\u00a0said Chief Lee Bercaw.\u00a0“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.”<\/p>\n Johnson was arrested and charged with the following:<\/p>\n Felon in possession of a firearmChild neglect with great bodily harmSafe storage of firearmsPosession of Cannabis <\/p>\n What we don’t know:<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how Johnson got ahold of a firearm.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n This remains an active and ongoing investigation. The Tampa Police Department will provide updates when they become available.<\/p>\n The Source: This article was written using information from the Tampa Police Department.<\/p>\n Hillsborough County<\/a>Tampa<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Courtesy: Tampa Police Department TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Police Department has charged a man after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[630,47,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-233062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}