Toddler waving loaded gun on live TV outside Indiana apartment leads to dad’s arrest
A reality TV series that follows police officers on patrol aired footage of a toddler waving a loaded gun, leading to the boy’s father arrested as viewers across the country watched.
The footage was broadcast on “On Patrol: Live,” which followed the Beech Grove, Indiana, Police Department on the Saturday, Jan. 14 episode.
An officer was dispatched to the apartment complex after a neighbor reported seeing a boy in a diaper playing with a handgun in the hallway.
“He’s playing with what he thinks is a toy, and it couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Beech Grove Deputy Chief Robert Mercuri later told WXIN.
Police’s interaction with the boy’s father was captured live. He told officers he does not own a gun and said if there was one in the home, it was his cousin’s.
Officers searched the apartment for the weapon, later finding it on a desk in a living room. An officer said it was a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol.
REELZ, which broadcasts “On Patrol: Live,” received security camera footage of the toddler holding the pistol. It shows the boy holding it in the air and pointing it at himself, at one point pulling the trigger.
The gun was loaded, but a bullet was not in the chamber. Mercuri told WTTV there were 15 rounds in the magazine.
“He pointed it at me and said, ‘Look what I got. Ha ha,” a neighbor said during the footage that aired live on REELZ.
The father was shown being taken out of the apartment in handcuffs. He was charged with neglect of dependent.
In a statement to WISH, Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said he was “mortified by what took place.”
“I appreciate the quick action taken by the Beech Grove Police Department to secure the small child and the gun in question,” Buckley stated. “I ask that the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office work tirelessly to secure charges and a conviction against the responsible parties, with maximum penalties. Society shouldn’t accept anything less.”
The child is now with his mother, WTTV reported. The father is due in court on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Beech Grove is a southeast suburb of Indianapolis.