An Indiana father was arrested after his toddler son was captured on live television over the weekend waving around a gun as he wandered in his apartment building, according to reports.
The shocking images of the 4-year-old boy walking with the gun in hand led to an investigation by the Beech Grove police, a department that appears on the show “On Patrol: Live,” which airs on REELZ.
Footage from a neighbor’s Ring doorbell appeared to show the boy, only in a pull-up, playing with the weapon and even pulling the trigger at one point that was shown on the docuseries on Saturday, according to WTHR.
A neighbor reportedly called police, which led officers to Shane Osborne’s home where he was asked about the gun-toting tot.
With cameras rolling for the docuseries, Osborne, 45, told cops he was sick and asleep when his son left the home, but that he didn’t have a gun in the apartment due to previous felonies, the news station reported.
“I don’t have a gun,” the man said, as police entered his apartment, according to a release from the show, CNN reported. “I have never brought a gun into this house, if there is, it’s my cousin’s.”
But a gun was later found in the back of a rolltop deck with 15 rounds inside, but none in the chamber, WTHR reported.
One officer at the scene said the recovered weapon was a “Smith & Wesson SD9mm,” CNN reported.
Footage from “On Patrol: Live” showed the father taken from the apartment in handcuffs, according to Fox 59.
“It’s almost incomprehensible what you’re watching,” Beech Grove Deputy Police Chief Robert Mercuri said, according to WTHR.
“I saw it the next day and even though I knew the outcome, as I’m watching the video, I was still scared. You find yourself catching your breath. I don’t know how you can’t watch that video, parent or non-parent and not be shocked and disturbed.”
The neighbor who called police said the small child “just kept going ‘pow, pow, pow, pow,’” according to WTHR.
“He was standing in the middle of the hallway and he was just kind of holding it behind his back and I thought…like that’s a real gun. I sell guns for a living, so I know what a gun looks like,” neighbor Nicole Summers said.
The father is facing a neglect charge, but could face more charges because he is a felon, police said.
The child is with his mother now, who told WTHR it was scary seeing her son with a gun, but insisted Osborne is a good father.
Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said he appreciated how quickly cops worked to secure the kid and the gun.
“As with all of you, I’m mortified at what took place and I’m so thankful that no one was hurt, especially the young child,” he stated.
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