Utah police were investigating after a two-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet as he played outside at his day care. Authorities now suspect the wayward round came from a bird hunter’s gun.
Two adult caretakers found the toddler injured on Monday.
On Wednesday, police in Spanish Fork, Utah, 50 miles from Salt Lake City, said a hunter might have fired the shot.
The boy was playing in an area enclosed by vinyl fencing when he “appeared to stumble and was seen bleeding from the face”. The day care told his parents, who brought him to hospital for treatment, police said.
Doctors found that the boy had a “small caliber bullet lodged in his head”. He was listed in stable condition.
Doctors opted to leave the bullet in the boy’s head, concerned removing it could cause additional injuries, reported KSL, a local NBC affiliate. The child’s condition was improving, police said.
“Detectives are continuing to investigate where the bullet may have been shot from and why,” police said.
“It appears this was a tragic accident. Open fields are directly west of the day care and it is believed the round may have come from that area.”
On Wednesday, detectives said they had identified “an adult male who was shooting birds with a .22 caliber air rifle in the area west of the day care”. The man was cooperating and the case remained open.
Police said they would send results to prosecutors, to weigh potential charges. The man would not be named “unless formal charges are filed”.
The owner of Leap Ahead Daycare, Lane Mugleston, expressed shock to KSL, a Salt Lake City NBC News affiliate.
“We are absolutely surprised,” said Mugleston. “We are dumbfounded that this would happen in Spanish Fork.”
In a statement, the day care said: “Safety for the children and staff in our care has always been our number one priority. We are praying for [the boy] and his family, and we are hopeful for a full recovery. We are also praying for the shooter and his family. I am sure he had absolutely no idea that his bullet would travel as far as it did.”
Firearms are the leading cause of death of children from aged one to 18 in the US, according to a University of Michigan analysis. Such deaths included gun-related suicides, accidental shootings and homicides. Homicides exceeded gun-related suicides and accidental shootings. Teens killed by guns largely die because of unsecured firearms inside homes and violence outside.
In 2020, 11 infants died due to firearms, according to the Austin American Statesman.
Although most Americans support measures to reduce gun violence, efforts to enact federal legislation have stalled largely due to Republican opposition.
A quarter of Americans now consider access to guns to be the top public health threat, a recent Axios/Ipsos American Health Index poll found.
