A four-year-old child fired a gun at officers after being encouraged to do so by father following a dispute over orders at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Salt Lake City, police say.
The father, identified as 27-year-old Sadaat Johnson, allegedly brandished a gun at the drive-thru workers after they handed him an incorrect order.
The staff told Mr Johnson that they would correct his order and asked him to wait in his vehicle, then called the police, Unified Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Melody Cutler said.
When officers arrived, the man did not cooperate and had to be removed from the vehicle, the police said.
However, as they were taking Mr Johnson into custody, an officer noticed “a firearm coming outside the vehicle”. The officer, who was able to deflect the weapon by swiping the gun to the side as it fired into a restaurant awning, yelled “kid” to his colleagues.
The child was sitting in the back seat with his three-year-old sibling and had been “encouraged” to fire the gun by their father, police said.
The officer sustained a minor injury to his arm.
Calling it a sad day for the community, Sheriff Rosie Rivera said: “To have an adult think it is OK to encourage a four-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten.”
She added: “This is a child who thought it was okay to pull a firearm and shoot that firearm at police. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 28 years.”
Mr Johnson was arrested on charges of felony child abuse and threatening the use of a dangerous weapon.
