HOUSTON – A previously convicted felon has been charged in connection to the shooting of a child at an apartment complex in southeast Houston.

Convicted felon arrested in accidental child shooting

According to court documents, Nicholas Zepeda-Quintanilla, has been charged with injury to child.

Zepeda-Quintanilla is accused of bringing a loaded firearm not secured with a trigger lock into the home and putting the weapon on the shelf, records state.

The backstory:

Zepeda-Quintanilla had previously been convicted of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Harris County.

What’s next:

He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

Child injured in shooting

What we know:

On Monday, Houston Police Department officers were called to Sage Hollow apartment complex in the 10700 block of Fuqua Street around 12:40 p.m. about a shooting.

A reportedly 4-year-old child was shot and taken to the hospital.

4-year-old in hospital after accidental shooting

What we don’t know:

The child’s condition is still unknown.

What they’re saying:

A neighbor at the scene who saw the situation unfold spoke to FOX 26 and stated:

“I was getting my mail, that’s when the cops started showing up and there was a lady holding her kid. She was screaming, crying. But there was another neighbor that was talking to the cops because she had called the cops for her. I didn’t know for hours what had happened. And then once the news started showing up, they started informing people that it was a four-year-old child that got a hold of their gun while they were sleeping and shot himself in the head.”

The Source: Information was gatherers from Harris County documents and FOX 26 reporter Angie Rodriguez spoke to witnesses at the scene.

Crime and Public SafetyHouston