3-year-old accidentally shoots himself in the ankle in Baltimore; 17-year-old family member to face charges
A 17-year-old will face charges after a 3-year-old accidentally shot himself in the ankle in Baltimore, police said Friday.
Officers responded to the shooting on Thursday around 10:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Wilbron Avenue.
The 3-year-old boy was found suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Investigators later learned that a 17-year-old family member owns the firearm. Charges were pending, according to police.
West Baltimore residents react
Neighbors say they heard and saw several police cars fill the block.
"I just saw a bunch of police cars," said neighbor Chauntel Brandon. "Then, I saw a mother running outside in the dark with the baby."
"All we heard was, 'Oh my God, my baby was shot,'" said Jules, Brandon's friend.
As a mother of five, Brandon says she feels for the mother of the three-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself.
"I just can't even imagine. I'm just grateful that the baby's ok," she said. "I couldn't go to sleep until I heard that."
"I'm just glad it wasn't worse," Jules said. "It's not every day that you wake up and something like this happens."
Brandon said her street is a very quiet block in West Baltimore. She told WJZ that she hears about shootings in other areas, but not doors down from where she lives.
"I'm just going to hug my kids tighter because there's no telling what could happen," Brandon said.
What are the charges?
Eric Bacaj, a Silverman Thompson attorney, said the teen could be charged with reckless endangerment, child's access to firearms, and or possessing a firearm under 21.
"If the 17-year-old is charged with the public safety article, that is possessing a firearm under the age of 21, Maryland law specifically grants jurisdiction to a criminal court, not a juvenile court," he said
Bacaj adds that this case raises an interesting question: "Whether or not someone in this position should be charged as an adult or if the case should proceed in a juvenile setting," he said.
If the teen is charged as an adult, he believes a defense attorney would fight to move those charges to juvenile court.
"Everyone feels for the three-year-old," Bacaj said. "Probably in this case, no one more so than the 17-year-old. When you have a tragic situation like this, I think that it's something a good prosecutor will take into account as they make their decision."
Accidental shooting in Anne Arundel County
A similar incident played out in an Anne Arundel County school earlier in February when a 7-year-old student accidentally shot himself.
Police said the second-grader brought the gun, owned by his mother's boyfriend, to Freetown Elementary School on Feb. 4. The student suffered non-life-threatening injuries to his hand. Several other students were in the classroom at the time the gun was discharged, but no other students were injured.
The owner of the gun, 34-year-old Eashan John Stefanski, was charged with leaving a loaded gun within reach of a minor, according to police.