POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A 3-year-old boy died Thursday after accidentally shooting himself in the face with his father’s gun at a Burger King restaurant drive-thru in Polk County, according to a report from our sister station WKMG.
What happened?
Around 6:23 p.m., the child’s father pulled through the drive-thru to pay for dinner, pulling out his credit card to do so, Judd explained. However, the sale reportedly wouldn’t go through.
“He’s only been here about four months from Connecticut,” Judd stated. “The victim — dad and mom both are managers and well-thought-of at Lowe’s, and they moved south to get in the warm weather. So he’s had problems with the credit card seeing that their sales [are] in Florida.”
As a result, the father parked outside, working to get the credit card to function, Judd said.
But while he was dealing with that, he took a firearm out of his waistband and laid it down because it was getting “uncomfortable,” the sheriff added. It should be noted that the father was apparently permitted to carry.
However, Judd said the child likely saw the gun, picked it up to play with it, and ended up shooting himself in the face. The child was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
“This is a horrible tragedy,” Judd remarked.
Will the father face charges?
After explaining what happened, Judd touched on a state statute for culpable negligence, which is imposed as a third-degree felony if a child gets his/her hands on a firearm and is consequently hurt.
“The law says that we can’t take any legal action if we choose to for at least seven days,” Judd explained. “And we have to send the information to the State Attorney’s Office. There couldn’t be a unilateral arrest if we wanted.”
That said, Judd said there “is no appetite” to continue with criminal charges in this case, unless further evidence arises.
“[The father] was doing the best he could. The child was in the backseat playing, and he absolutely had no clue,” Judd argued. “At least, according to the initial information. Until he hears the pop.”
Bartow Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy also spoke during the briefing, stating that the father was “distraught.”
“There is going to be a family without a son tonight, without a nephew, without a cousin,” Dowdy said. “There’s going to be a mom and dad. They’re going to try to pick up the shambles of this horrific event.”
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