Three-Year-Old Shoots Dad, Pregnant Mom with Handgun in NM Motel Room
A toddler accidentally shot his father and his eight-months-pregnant mother in an Albuquerque motel room on Saturday, the Albuquerque Journal reports. According to the paper, both parents are expected to survive.
The three-year-old boy was reportedly reaching for an iPod in his mother's purse when he instead grabbed her loaded handgun, firing one shot. From NBC News:
The bullet hit the father in the buttock, exited the man's hip and then struck the toddler's mother in the shoulder, according to police. The mother, who is eight months pregnant, is hospitalized in stable condition and the father has been treated and released, police added.
"It was like if I was to get up shake your hand and sat back down. That's how fast it happened," father Justin Reynolds told KOB. "All of a sudden we heard a gun go off and the next minute I realized my girlfriend was bleeding. Then I sat down and realized I was shot too."
Also in the room was the couple's two-year-old daughter, who was unharmed. According to police, the couple could face charges of felony criminal negligence. Both children are currently in state custody on a 48-hour hold.