By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.— At 11:33 a.m., on Oct. 7, Brandon deputies responded to a report of a four-year-old that shot himself in the leg with a gun.
Upon arrival, the mother was providing medical attention to the boy. Brandon Fire also arrived at this time. Deputies secured the gun and gun safe in their patrol vehicle. Once Brandon Fire took over medical care, deputies spoke to the mother. She said that she was cleaning and heard a pop, and that the gun safe had been on a shelf. She then went in the ambulance with her son in the hospital.
Deputies saw an extra magazine with bullets laying in the bottom of the safe. The mechanism was in the unlocked position, and the handgun had gone off while inside the safe. Deputies observed a bullet hole through the extra magazine. The spent shell casing was still in the chamber.
The father of the child arrived at the residence and stated he keeps the safe out for his wife while she is home and that his son has never touched the safe.
The mother told deputies at the hospital that she believed her husband had taken the firearm with him that day. The father stated he usually keeps a round in the chamber of the firearm. The child is expected to recover.
“The case is still open pending further investigation,” said Lt. Greg Glover, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Brandon substation commander. “These parents seem to have done for the most part the right things, however, this young boy was able to access the weapon. It’s obvious to us the safe was not locked, closed. This gun did not accidentally fire.”
Deputies observed the safe lock and saw that it was stuck in an open position.
Glover urged residents to keep firearms in a safe place and out of reach of children.
“Just because you put a gun in what you consider to be a safe place, you still should have trigger locks so a gun cannot fire under any circumstances. We have trigger locks free to the citizens of this township that we give out at the substation,” said Glover. “It needs to be in a locked, secure area away from kids’ reach. If you put it into a small gun safe they need to be secured to the wall or the floor, and locked at all times and double checked. Kids are curious and they’ll find a way. And that’s how accidents happen, often fatal. This little boy was very lucky that someone else was present in the home at the time of the incident.”
Glover also said that parents should talk to their children about firearm safety if they are going to have a firearm in the home.
“Tell them to never touch them, never look for them,” said Glover. “They’re always to be pointed in a safe direction, your finger is never in the trigger housing, and treat every gun as if it’s loaded. If you have little kids at home, you should never keep a round in the chamber. That’s always a recipe for disaster.”
To obtain a free trigger lock from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, call 248-627-4911 and schedule a pick-up.