A three-year-old child grabbed a gun and fatally shot a murder suspect and his own mother in the US state of Indiana.
The toddler, who is reported to be a boy, fired just one bullet which hit both Trayshaun Smith, 23, and the youngster’s mother, Jalynn Artis, 21.
Smith was arrested by police in Lafayette after being treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
He was arrested on an active murder warrant that had been issued in nearby Cook County, Illinois.
He and Ms Artis, who was also not seriously injured in the shooting, are friends, police say.
Lafayette officers were called after a report of two people shot shortly after 8:30 p.m. last Thursday in an apartment in the city.
Smith had visited the property.
Officers have not disclosed how the child gained access to the weapon or what led him to fire the weapon.
The Indiana Department of Children’s Services was contacted about the youth who picked up the gun, but ‘no immediate action was taken,’ Lt. Justin Hartman told USA Today .
As of Monday morning, there were no additional arrests or charges relating to the toddler’s access to the firearm, but the Tippecanoe County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case, the website added.
Lafayette is about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
