3-year-old shoots 2 people in Indiana, leading to arrest of man wanted for murder
The child was able to get hold of a gun and fire a shot, police said.
A shooting in Indiana that left two people injured after a three-year-old boy accessed a gun led to the arrest of a man wanted for murder, authorities said.
According to Lt. Justin Hartman of the Lafayette Police Department, 23-year-old Trayshaun Smith was arrested Thursday after he went to a hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
Investigators eventually determined that the shooting that took Smith and another victim to the hospital occurred when a three-year-old was able to get hold of a gun and fire a single bullet.
“It was determined that a three-year-old child at this location grabbed a gun and fired a shot that hit two people,” Hartman said.
Police said officers initially found the two shooting victims at Franciscan Health Lafayette East Hospital, where they were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. They later determined that the shooting took place at an apartment complex in Lafayette.
Hartman initially did not provide any information about the relationship between the three-year-old shooter and the victims.
Smith was arrested on an active murder warrant from neighboring Cook County, Illinois. Lafayette police said they are coordinating with Markham, Illinois police regarding the arrest.
Markham is over a hundred miles from Lafayette. Authorities say Smith resides in Lafayette.
A representative from the Markham Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest.
