A 7-month-old infant remains in serious condition after his 4-year-old brother shot him Thursday afternoon in Temple, Texas.
Local CBS news affiliate KWTX reports that the 4-year-old is in the custody of Child Protective Services, while the infant remains in a Temple area hospital. Police state they received a 911 call from a woman at around 2:30 p.m., with a spokesperson for the department revealing the identity of the caller.
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“We believe it was the mother of either one or both of the kids, she was the only adult that was in the house at the time,” Shawana Neely, the department spokesperson said.
When officers arrived to the scene two minutes later, they found the infant who the toddler had shot accidentally. Neely tells the news agency it is “too early in the investigation to be sure of all of the circumstances surrounding the situation,” which includes what weapon was used or how the child got a hold of it.
The department is also looking into what happened inside the house prior to the shooting.
While information surrounding the infant’s injuries and condition was not provided to police, a family member told KWTX that “everything was going to be okay” with the baby boy.
One of the family’s neighbors saw the 4-year-old playing in the front yard while his mother was mowing the lawn, followed by the sound of sirens and observing that the infant was being taken out in a diaper.
“The officer was carrying it in his hands, it wasn’t moving or anything,” the neighbor said. “You could see blood and stuff on [him]… my heart sank when I saw it, it really did. If you’re going to own guns lock it up, that’s all I can say.”
Another neighbor spoke out in support of the family calling them “good.”
“The woman is good people, a good mother, a stay at home mom who doesn’t work and stays home with her children,” the neighbor said, who has surveillance cameras overlooking the front and backyard so the children could be watched at all times.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Temple Police Department at (254) 298-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-729-TIPS.
