Florida woman arrested after toddler shoots five-month-old baby

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A 25-year-old woman was arrested after a toddler accidentally shot a five-month-old baby in Tampa, Florida.

Officers from the Tampa police department were called shortly after 1pm local time on 3 September after the baby was shot in the hip by a three-year-old.

The infant was rushed to the Tampa general hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Although there is no clarity on the relationship between the woman, identified as Paula Marie Concepcion Santos, and the children, she was in the same house at the time of the incident.

Ms Concepcion Santos alleged the toddler “accidentally fired the gun after getting ahold of the weapon”. She was arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm.

Investigators are working through the details to determine how the shooting took place.

“While we’re incredibly thankful this infant was not fatally injured, this should serve as a reminder to every parent or guardian to immediately go and check that their guns are properly secured,” said Tampa’s police chief Mary O’Connor.

“Children should not be able to access firearms, and moreover, guns should always be stored in a locked safe with the ammo stored separately. Don’t put the life of a child at risk by being careless,” she added.

In a separate shooting incident in Florida area on Thursday, a five-year-old boy was critically injured after accidentally shooting himself with a firearm he found in a bedroom.

Authorities said Aston Simmons, 28, was arrested and charged with child neglect and improper storage of a firearm. The police department was alerted about the incident through a call at the same time when Mr Simmons drove the child to St Joseph’s hospital in the Apollo Beach area.

Officers reportedly found marijuana and cash, along with drug paraphernalia at the man’s house.

Mr Simmons and the injured child are not related, the sheriff’s office said.