Charges Filed Against Man Whose Son, 4, Shot Cousin, 3

A Garden Grove man whose 4-year-old son accidentally shot his 3-year-old cousin in the face was charged Thursday with felony child endangerment and possession of a concealed weapon after allegedly leaving his handgun within reach of the children.

The wounded girl, Marlina Fernandez, was released from a Santa Ana trauma center Thursday afternoon after surgeons removed a .22-caliber bullet from her nasal cavity, authorities said.

Doctors “said it was a miracle it didn’t penetrate her brain,” said Armando Fernandez, the girl’s father, whose 4-year-old cousin was killed in a hail of gunfire as he sat in the family car in 1989.

“They said it was like a centimeter away from a major blood vessel. . . . God stopped it,” he said. A Western Medical Center-Santa Ana hospital spokeswoman said that Marlina left the hospital in excellent condition.

Tuesday’s shooting involved the youngest pair of Orange County children in recent memory and served to underscore the serious danger of weapons being accessible to youngsters, authorities said.

“Unfortunately, it takes a tragic situation to remind us how important it is to follow safety precautions,” said Barbara Mitchell, a manager of investigations at the Orange County coroner’s office, which investigated five accidental shooting deaths of juveniles between 1989 and 1991.

“It’s extremely heartbreaking” when such shootings happen, she said. “It hurts everyone involved because the last thing we want to do is hurt our babies.”

In September, 1989, Armando Fernandez’s cousin, Frank Fernandez Jr., died in a gang-related shooting a block from the family home. The target of the drive-by shooting, teen-ager Miguel (Smokey) Navarro, was also killed, and six people were wounded in what police called the worst incident of gang violence in county history.

Four men were convicted in the shooting and sentenced to prison.

The owner of the handgun used Tuesday night, Richard Granados, 24, appeared “traumatized” by the shooting of his niece, Sgt. Mike Handfield said. “But it doesn’t excuse him from responsibility.”

Granados was arrested about an hour after the 8:30 p.m. shooting, in which Marlina was wounded inside her home on Anita Place. Granados, an unemployed carpet layer, told police that he was an ex-gang member who carried the gun for protection.

Investigators, who checked the serial numbers on his Jennings .22-caliber handgun, have not been able to determine where the gun came from or whether it was stolen.

Granados said he bought the gun on the street because he was afraid of getting shot by rival gangbangers, police said. Granados apparently kept the weapon with him often--even during Tuesday night’s two-block walk with his wife, Deanna, 23, from their apartment on Westminster Boulevard to Fernandez’s home, where relatives were baby-sitting their son, Edward, police said.

Granados put the handgun, covered by a jacket, on top of a baby stroller he pushed into the Fernandez house and then walked away from it, police said. A short while later, Granados’ son grabbed the handgun from atop the stroller and accidentally shot his cousin in the nose, authorities said. Other relatives in the home called police as Marlina bled from her face.

“We ran into the room,” Fernandez recalled. “She was walking away with her back turned to me. I called out her name, but she wouldn’t turn around. I picked her up, and she had blood all over her face. . . . She told me that ‘he hurt me.’ ”

Initially, police reported that the shooting took place just outside Fernandez’s home. On Thursday, investigators said the incident occurred in the living room of the home.

Marlina’s shooting points up the potentially tragic consequences of leaving a weapon within reach of children, police said.

Just hours before Garden Grove police responded to Marlina’s shooting, Huntington Beach police were investigating another accidental shooting. A 14-year-old boy apparently was playing with a handgun in front of his 17-year-old friend. The gun fired once, striking the 17-year-old in the head, killing him.

“There are more guns out there, but people that are mishandling them or letting kids get ahold of them is our biggest concern,” Handfield said.

More than 40% of the respondents to a nationwide survey in 1990 reported a handgun in the house, according to polling data compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. About half of those gun owners with children said they didn’t lock up their guns, said Luis Tolley, the West Coast director of the Washington-based Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.

Tolley said the only California law pertaining to gun storage is one that went into effect in January, 1992, which is designed to punish gun owners or users who leave a weapon in a place accessible to children.

Garden Grove police asked that Granados be charged under the Children’s Firearm Accident Prevention Act, but county prosecutors said the relatively new law was not applicable in this case. The statute addresses instances where a weapon is not properly stored in the owner’s home, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin Haskins. In Tuesday’s shooting, Granados was not in his own home when his son grabbed the gun, Haskins said.

“The state statute seems to be directed toward storage of a handgun when it’s stored in a residence,” Haskins said. “In this case, the weapon was discharged when he was visiting somewhere.”

Granados’ arraignment was postponed until Tuesday, and he remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $10,000 bail. He could face up to six years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors around the state have charged about 10 people with violations of the 1992 law, according to state Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who was one of the bill’s authors.

Umberg said the Garden Grove shooting signals that there are still many people who do not consider the consequences of leaving weapons unattended.

Deputy Public Defender Don Ronaldson said outside court Thursday that Granados was upset about the shooting and seemed more concerned about the girl’s health than his own situation.

“Richard sends his love to Marlina and his prayers for her rapid recovery,” Ronaldson said. “He seems to be real concerned about her and concerned that she’s doing fine.”

Family members who attended Granados’ court hearing made only brief comments Thursday. One told a reporter outside the courtroom that Granados had “been punished enough. Leave him alone.”

Granados was arrested on April 14, 1992, in Garden Grove and charged with driving with a suspended license. He was cited for speeding in a residential area and driving with a young child not properly restrained in a car seat.

Granados pleaded guilty on May 26, 1992, to driving with a suspended license and the remaining counts were dismissed, according to court records. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and ordered to complete 10 days of community service.

Times staff writers Rene Lynch and David A. Avila contributed to this story.