Local News in Brief : 3-Year-Old Shoots Himself With Pistol

A 3-year-old West Covina boy was critically wounded Tuesday when he accidently shot himself with an automatic pistol that he found in his mother’s bedroom, authorities said.

Pauline Sandoval, 22, told investigators she left her son in her bedroom while she was moving furniture in his room to prepare it for painting when she heard a “loud pop” about 9 a.m., West Covina Police Lt. John Schiminski said.

The boy, Eric Sarda, was in critical condition at Queen of the Valley Hospital, where he was being treated for the single gunshot wound, Schiminski said.

Sandoval said her boyfriend, Christopher Fimbres, 23, who also lives in the apartment, left the .25-caliber automatic pistol on a headboard above the bed after a prowler was detected a couple of days earlier.