OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Omaha police are investigating how a 5-year-old boy got ahold of an unsecured gun over the weekend, accidentally shooting himself with it.
It happened near 14th and Fort streets Sunday afternoon. Officers arrested 28-year-old Trae Colvin on multiple child neglect charges and cited 27-year-old Gabriella Gutierrez for misdemeanor neglect.
While police say the child's injuries are non-life-threatening, the case is underscoring the importance of gun safety and proper storage.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Over the last year we have reported on tragic incidents where young kids have died after guns were left unsecured in homes, we've also seen close calls.
"Some research has been done that estimates as many as 5 million kids live in homes with unsecured firearms that are loaded," said Dr. Zeb Timmons, division chief of emergency medicine at Children's Nebraska.
Dr. Timmons says the official recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics is a home with no guns.
"The next steps beyond that, if you do have a firearm in your house, is to secure it safely and the best way to do that is to keep the firearm in a locked place and the ammunition in a separate locked place," Timmons said.
Sgt. Neal Klein with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department agrees with that storage tip and also suggests these free gun locks.
"It just is inserted in the firearm like this, it essentially makes sure that there is no way that ammunition can be inserted in the firearm and the firearm can't function," Klein explained.
You can pick up a free gun lock at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in west Omaha, but another spot is the Douglas County Health Department resources vending machines.
But a lock like this isn't the only safe guard.
"Education, let people know that it is exists, kind of remove some of the mystery around it, tell your kids hey this is what this is," Klein said.
"If you do have firearms in your home, having that conversation with the kids about how dangerous they can be is important to do, but at the end of the day that won't keep kids safe because they are still going to be kids, so the most important thing they can do is to store them safely or not have firearms at all," Timmons said.
Earlier this month we told you about a Child Safety Center opening in the Highlander, a collaboration between Creighton University and Children's Nebraska. Children's Nebraska tells me one of the resources will be conversations around gun safety.
