SANTA ANA : Boy, 5, Injured in Shooting by Friend
A 6-year-old boy accidentally shot a 5-year-old friend Monday as the two were playing with a handgun, police said.
The 5-year-old, also a boy, was taken to Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana, where he was treated for a flesh wound to an arm and released. Police did not identify either child.
The boys were playing at the 5-year-old’s home on South Raitt Street at around 11:30 a.m. when they found the gun inside a dresser drawer, police said.
The 5-year-old “apparently had been told by his parents that the gun was there and to never touch it,” Santa Ana Police Department spokeswoman Maureen Haacker said.
The boy’s mother was in the kitchen when the shooting took place, Haacker said.
The gun, a .25-caliber semiautomatic, is registered to the 5-year-old’s father, police said.
Police are still investigating as to whether child endangerment charges could be filed against the parents, Haacker said.
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