2-year-old recovering after shooting

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.-- The St. Joseph County Police Department and Clay Fire were called out to the 3500 block of Generations Drive just outside of South Bend at Emerald Pointe Apartments late this morning for a possible gunshot victim. 

“We were advised by our 911 dispatchers that a 2-year-old have received some sort of gunshot. Upon arrival our officers were able to confirm that it was in fact a young toddler that suffered some kind of injuries,” St. Joseph County Police Department Sheriff William Redman said. 

According to Sheriff Redman, this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the hand, but after further investigation, there may be other injuries to the young boy. Luckily though, he’s expected to be OK and is in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. However, things could’ve panned out differently, if it weren’t for a maintenance worker who just so happened to be there when the incident took place. 

“A maintenance man that works here in the complex actually heard a gunshot, what he believed to be a gunshot. He then heard a child crying, went to check on that child, and that’s when he discovered the child who had sustained an injury. He called the front office and was asking for assistance. They then called 911 and then we shortly after that arrived here,” Redman said. 

Sheriff Redman also says, according to the maintenance worker, there was an adult inside with the child, but after going inside the home and having a brief conversation with him, the man disappeared 

“We are trying to locate that person now as we speak, we have a couple ideas he may be in a complex here somewhere so we are checking a few residents here to see if that is in fact the case. But at this time, we don’t have the adults who were present with that child,” Redman said. 

Keeping guns out of the wrong hands and keeping them in proper safe storage, Mishawaka Police Lieutenant Tim Williams says, is an ongoing issue. 

“It’s a tragic situation and it’s one of the leading causes of accidental death in our country,” Mishawaka Police Department Lieutenant and D.A.R.E Supervisor Tim Williams said. “We’ve had some incidences within the last couple years of accidental shootings and they’re very unfortunate too, especially when it comes to a child to have an accidental shooting. Our goal is to keep them safe, they’re very precious to us and we want to make sure they have a good future so let’s do the right thing and make sure our firearms are secured safely and away from our children.” 

Williams’ best advice to curb this, is to purchase a gun safe or case and gun locks so that guns don’t get placed into the wrong hands, or even worse, into a child's hands! 

“If you are going to own a firearm, we want you to own it and store it safely away from children. Especially very young children, because they are resilient, they can find whatever at height. They have that ability to find it. So, if you’re hiding it underneath your pillow, putting it in a nightstand, putting it in a closet where they can reach it...they’re going to come up with it one way or another. So bottom line is to make sure it’s safe,” Williams said. 

This incident is still under investigation at this time.