Nurse neighbor describes saving 5-year-old who shot himself after mom came running for help
By David Jones
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EUSTIS, Florida (WESH) — As a 5-year-old boy with autism remains in the hospital in critical condition after police said he accidentally shot himself Sunday.
A neighbor of the boy and his family tells WESH 2 she and her police officer fiancée were at the right place at the right time.
The boy, according to the Eustis Police Department, shot himself by accident just after 9 a.m. on Sunday.
The incident, which took place in a home in the Brightwater Place subdivision off Grand Island Road, was not witnessed by any of the boy’s family.
“The mom came running over, banging on our door. We were both asleep, and she’s like, ‘My baby’s been shot,’” said the family’s neighbor, who asked not to be identified.
Florida boy, 5, accidentally shoots himself in head5-year-old boy accidentally shoots himself in head at Eustis home, police say “I’m a flight nurse, [my fiancée] is a cop, so we both run over there, I grab him from the dad and put him on the car and start assessing injuries, I see his head, put pressure on the wounds.”
She said something clicked in her brain and she immediately went into work mode.
She told him to grab a medical kit out of his police cruiser and to dial 911.
“He came running over here, grabbed his kit, came back, he’s like, ‘What do you need?’” she said. “I called my dispatch and said I needed a helicopter, and they’re like, ‘We’re on the phone, we’re getting them to you.’”
The boy was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
He stabilized but remains in critical condition, according to the police department.
WESH 2 obtained the police report for the incident. The report said the boy’s wound appeared to be self-inflicted.
It also states police interviewed both parents (who an officer said were frantic at the time) as well as the boy’s sister.
“[Redacted] advised that firearms were typically stored inside the front bedroom closet, on the top shelf, inside their original manufacturer lock boxes. She believed that [redacted] should not have had access to the weapons, and that he normally slept in the same room with his father,” the officer writes.
WESH 2 spoke with a firearms expert who said, while he can’t be certain of what type of boxes the guns were stored in, typically the best move for parents with curious children at home is to secure weapons in something other than a keyed-entry box.
“There are lock boxes that, literally lock boxes, that have rings or they have wristbands on them, so if you’re worried about security at the home you can just take and put them, and boom, it unlocks automatically,” said David Thomas, a forensic science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Eustis PD said no charges have been filed and no arrests have been made as of yet, but the investigation into the incident is still active.
“It’s going to be a long time before life is normal but I’m hoping it will be shorter than longer,” the neighbor said.
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