Three-year-old finds gun in sofa, accidentally shoots younger sister

Florida officials are investigating after a 3-year-old boy shot his 2-year-old sister with a gun he found hidden in a sofa. 

Two witnesses, 23-year-old Kevonte’ Wilson and 23-year-old Rodderick Haynes, told detectives that they were watching a basketball game on television in a home in Lakeland, Fla., when the boy found the gun and it pointed at the 2-year-old girl, shooting her in the chest, according to a Saturday statement from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

The statement said that the men got into a car to rush the girl to the hospital, but they got into a crash with another vehicle. 

Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters that there were “significant injuries” resulting from the car crash, although he did not immediately specify who was injured.

Authorities said a “good Samaritan” who stopped at the scene of the crash took the two-year-old girl and 24-year-old Chad Berrien, who was with the other men, to the hospital. As of Saturday afternoon, the girl was in “exceptionally critical condition,” after the bullet also hit her intestines. 

“The baby needs our prayers, really as does the entire family,” Judd said, noting that she was transferred to another intensive services hospital in Florida.

“There was absolutely no reason to think that that was an intentional act,” Judd added. “He was a baby playing with what he saw as what was some kind of toy.” 

The handgun belonged to Wilson, according to the Saturday statement. After the crash, he was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed firearm and failure to safely store a firearm, in addition to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Judd told reporters Saturday that Wilson put the gun between the cushions in a couch in the home in Florida to keep it away from the children. He could face additional counts in the coming weeks.

Berrien was arrested on four outstanding warrants, including failure to appear for battery, failure to appear for resisting without violence, failure to appear for driving while license cancelled, suspended or revoked, and failure to appear for driving on revoked/suspended license. The man was also arrested on drug charges.

Judd said that marijuana was also found in the home after officials investigated following the shooting and crash.