A male juvenile in Florida has been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after he was accidentally shot in the leg by his mother on Nov. 11.
According to the Pembroke Pines Police Department, the shooting occurred after the mom, who hasn’t been unnamed, awoke from her sleep to the sound of what she thought was an intruder in her kitchen. Pembroke Pines officers responded to the shooting early Saturday morning. The incident took place at the residence of the adult female mother and her son near Northwest 134 Avenue and Northwest 9th Street.
Pembroke Pines authorities claim the mother had “fallen asleep on her living room couch while her son had fallen asleep upstairs in his room earlier in the evening.”
The incident report stated, “While the mother was sleeping on the couch, she was startled awake by a noise in her kitchen. Fearing that it was an intruder, she removed a firearm
that she had concealed in her purse next to her in the living room.”As the woman went to check out the noise in her kitchen, her son walked out of the kitchen simultaneously. As they both startled each other, the mother accidentally fired her gun. The first shot struck the floor, but the second bullet hit her son in the leg.
The media release from the Pembroke Pines Police Department has labeled the shooting as “accidental.” No one else resides at the home with the mother and son.
The incident is under investigation by The Investigations Division of the Pembroke Pines Police Department, and The Investigations Division of the Pembroke Pines Police Department has also been contacted. The division has not found any criminal intent regarding the ongoing investigation.
A report from The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence stated that higher rates of household gun ownership are associated with higher rates of unintentional firearm deaths.
“We must reduce unintentional gun deaths and injuries by, among other things, educating people about the risk that guns pose in the home,” the organization stated. The gun violence research intermediary prefers the use of “unintentional” rather than “accidental” terminology since gun violence is preventable.