LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Snohomish County deputies are continuing their investigation into the accidental shooting of a Lynnwood woman that allegedly happened at the hands of her 4-year-old son.
On July 15, deputies responded to a townhome after a man called 911 to report that he “was sleeping on the couch with his holstered gun and somehow, his 4-year-old son got the gun out and discharged it, hitting [his] wife in the bicep,” court documents explain.
The woman was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay.
A deputy said a portion of her tricep was missing, according to court documents. Blood was found throughout the bathroom where the incident took place, investigators said.
The child had a cut under his right eye that was bleeding, which detectives believed was caused from the kickback from the gun.
What happened
According to court documents, the victim said she was in the shower and asked her 4-year-old to get her phone from another room. When the child returned, he was holding a gun and fired it, hitting his mom in the arm, court documents said.
The suspect told investigators that he had fallen asleep on the couch and was woken up when he heard yelling. He found that the victim had been shot.
He told detectives that the gun was taken from the holster in his pants and that he had fallen asleep with the gun holstered in his waistband and that the child had apparently taken it from him while he slept.
“Observing the items, I saw that it would have been difficult for the gun to have been removed from the holster if it was still secured to [suspect’s] waistband. Additionally, the gun would have been covered by a shirt and the pants of [suspect], making it unlikely that the child would have known the gun was there, let alone being able to free the gun from the holster and pants of [suspect],” one investigator wrote in probable cause documents.
While in the home, responding deputies said they found multiple gun safes and on the fridge, there were printouts that an officer recognized as “safety plans from Child Protective Services.” On one of those printouts, it appeared that the mother admitted to using fentanyl, court documents said.
According to court documents, investigators found a pipe and alumnium foil in the bathroom, though detectives did not move the item to see if there were burn marks or residue associated with drug use.
When the suspect was arrested, detectives said they found several pills in his pockets, along with small baggies both with white powder and white powder residue, which detectives suspected was fentanyl, according to court documents.
The 51-year-old was booked into Snohomish County Jail for unsafe storage of a firearm, reckless endangerment and controlled substance possession.
He is due in court later this month.
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