Police charged a man and a woman on the west side of town with a variety of gun and drug offenses after a 2‑year-old in their home pointed a semi-automatic handgun at officers.
The incident occurred a the couple’s residence on Dayton Street on June 25 at 5:30 a.m. Police spokesperson Officer Scott Shumway issued a release about it Saturday, July 3.
Here’s what happened, according to Shumway:
The department’s shooting task force and criminal intelligence unit raided the residence along with “various federal task forces.”
Inside the residence, “a 2‑year-old pointed a semi-automatic handgun with a red laser attachment at detectives.” The weapon had been “left unattended on a bed.”
“Detectives were able to secure the handgun without incident. The [state] Department of Children and Families was notified and responded to the scene.”
The man was held on $700,000 bond, the woman on $500,000, on charges including criminal possession of a firearm, risk of injury to a minor, criminal negligent storage of a firearm, violation of a protective order, interfering with a search warrant, reckless endangerment, and illegal drug possession with intent to sell.
They have not yet entered court pleas, according to the state judicial database.
The man, who was born in 1985, remains in custody. He has numerous other cases pending in court, as well, including incidents from 2019 and 2020 and this past January. The charges from those cases include risk of injury to a minor, assault, violation of a protective order, strangulation and suffocation.
The woman, who was born in 1986, has been released from custody on a promise to appear in court, according to the database.
In a separate matter, the shooting task force, criminal intelligence unit, and narcotics enforcement unit seized two semi-automatic handguns and a revolver in a Friday 5:16 a.m. raid on a Cedar Street home. They arrested a man on firearms and illegal-drug charges in connection with the raid.
Just another cop's shift in a thankless job.