Boy Is Shot by Accident by Friend of Family

Police are searching for a man who accidentally shot a 12-year-old boy in the foot while playing with a handgun.

The man was with the boy in the garage of the child’s home, in the 11700 block of Paloma Avenue, Police Sgt. Frank Hauptmann said. The man had been drinking and was playing with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol when he dropped it on the floor and it discharged, police said.

The bullet hit the boy in the foot. The man took the gun and fled in his car, police said.

The boy’s family identified the man as a family acquaintance named Leo, between 29 and 34 years old, police said. But family members would not cooperate further, Lt. John Woods said.

The boy was treated and released from Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center, Woods said.