Child hospitalized, injured by gunfire

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. (WSVN) -- A child is in fair condition after he was injured as result of a gun going off, according to police.

Broward Sheriff's Office deputies are investigating how the 5-year-old boy was injured. They have not said whether he was was hit directly by a bullet or from shrapnel or debris as a result of the gunfire. "We don't know, at this point, if the child was actually shot," said BSO spokesperson Danny Moschella. "Doctors are going to have to officially tell us that after they do more medical tests. However, we know that there was a shooting, and that a 5-year-old boy was injured substantially in this shooting."

Police have arrested the child's step-father, an aunt, who police said has been charged with tampering with evidence, and two unidentified men.

The gun went off sometime late Wednesday afternoon in Apartment 112 at the Condodo Real Apartments, located at 5100 SW 41st St., where police recovered a handgun. Police brought two men out of the apartment in handcuffs and transported them at a police station for questioning. They also took to a third man into custody for questioning at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital where the injured child was transported in stable condition.

A neighbor said she heard one gunshot come from Apartment 112. She then saw the mother running out of the apartment screaming carrying the child to her car with her boyfriend.

They drove him to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital where doctors said they found "a foreign object in his lung." Police have not said whether the child was shot or may have inhaled fragments from the bullet.

Shai Gould, the apartment's manager said, she rented that unit to mother and her 5-year-old son. "I think that anytime that somebody small is involved, I think we all get upset," said Gould. "We've managed this building a long time, and there's a lot of small children, so of course we're concerned."

"It's absurd to me to have guns around kids," said Johnathan Occi, a concerned neighbor. "I have kids myself, and I make sure they aren't around any kind of arms like that. Knowing that this happened in this apartment complex. It really concerns me, so I do plan on moving because of this incident."

The child is now believed to be breathing on his own.

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