NEW ORLEANS — Family members of a New Orleans toddler are now considering themselves lucky after he was accidentally shot in the head.
It happened late last night at a gathering outside of their home.
Family members told us, through a Spanish translator, the 3-year-old suffered a graze wound on the side of his head.
The young boy was put in the pediatric ICU at a local hospital where professionals are running tests to make sure everything is all right. Relatives tell us the little boy's eyesight was not affected by the wound.
NOPD said the shooting happened around 11 p.m. on Wednesday. The little boy was jumping on a trampoline in front of his home in the 40 block of Westpark Court, just off of General DeGaulle in Algiers.
Adult family members said they were inside at the time.
Police said an adult man, who is an acquaintance of someone in the family, accidentally discharged the gun he was carrying. The man then ran from the scene.
NOPD detectives are working to identify and find him. When they do, he will be arrested for negligent injuring. This comes the day after Mayor LaToya Cantrell talked about the importance of gun safety.
“We know at NOPD we saw success. Over 60 participants from our community participated in these gun safety classes, and more are under way, and this is again a call to action to our community about how we can protect ourselves, how we can protect our children, considering we do have the highest rate of accidental shootings regarding our young people in our community," Cantrell said.
The mayor said last year there were 18 accidental shootings and there have been three this year.
“We have a partnership where we've been able to purchase gun locks we're making available,” Cantrell added.
Gun locks can be picked up at New Orleans police stations.
If you have information on the suspect in this case call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
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