A 3-year-old boy shot his father and pregnant mother inside a New Mexico motel room, police said Sunday. Both parents are recovering. The Albuquerque Police Department said in a statement that it appears the toddler managed to take a handgun out of his mother’s purse and fire one shot in the America’s Best Value Inn on Saturday afternoon.
The bullet hit the father in the buttock, exited the man’s hip and then struck the toddler’s mother in the shoulder, according to police. The mother, who is eight months pregnant, is hospitalized in stable condition and the father has been treated and released, police added.
Justin Reynolds said he and his girlfriend, Monique Villescas, were getting ready to order pizza when he heard a gun go off. “The next minute I realized my girlfriend was bleeding,” he told NBC News station KOB. “Then I sat down and realized I was shot too.” Reynolds said he immediately called 911 and grabbed towels to try to stop Villescas’ bleeding.
“I just took action right away,” he told KOB. “I was more worried about my girlfriend than myself and anything else that was going on. And my son because I didn’t know if he had shot himself or not. He was shocked and crying. It was traumatizing.” Reynolds added that he was grateful his Villescas’ two-year-old daughter – who had been sitting her to her mother at the time – was not injured.
The Albuquerque Police Department said both children have been placed on a 48-hour hold. The case will be forwarded to the district attorney’s office and the parents could face negligence charges, the force added.
Cassandra Vinograd