Two parents have been arrested after their four-year-old son accidentally shot himself in a car while his father was shopping at a Colorado cannabis dispensary.
The shooting happened around noon Tuesday in a parking lot outside the Maggie’s Farm dispensary in Manitou Springs.
Investigators from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the Manitou Springs Police Department said the boy – who was not identified by name – was in a car with his mother Ashlynne Perez and younger sibling, waiting for his father Carlos Perez to get a to make a purchase in the store.
The four-year-old managed to find a gun and appeared to fire it like his own head, dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ashlynne, 25, and Carlos, 26, were both arrested and charged with criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death.
Mother Ashlynne Perez, 25, (left) and father Carlos Perez, 26, (right) were arrested after their four-year-old son accidentally shot himself in a car outside a marijuana dispensary in Manitou Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday
Police are pictured at the scene of the shooting in a parking lot at Maggie’s Farm pharmacy
Investigators from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department and the Manitou Springs Police Department were at the scene of an investigation into the death on Tuesday.
Several witnesses told KRDO that they heard a gunshot from the parking lot. A witness also claimed she heard a woman screaming and saw a boy bleeding in a car.
Both Ashlynne and Carlos were held in the El Paso County Jail, where they are each held on $10,000 bail.
They were due to appear in court on Thursday.
“We want to remind the community to definitely talk to your kids about guns, even if you don’t own guns,” the sheriff said in a press release about the incident.
“If you own guns, anyone near the gun should learn gun safety, the gun should be unloaded and locked. All keys to the locks should be hidden,” she added.
Despite the shooting taking place just outside Maggie’s Farm, KRDO reports that customers continued to queue for the pharmacy after the incident.
The body was found in the parking lot of the pottery shop, where crime tape was exposed after the shooting
The pharmacy will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday after the shooting
The pharmacy is closed Tuesday and Wednesday and has released a statement about the shooting on its website.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family who have suffered a tragic loss,” the statement said.
“While the events are unrelated to our business, we will continue to be a source for the El Paso County Sheriff Department’s investigation.”
The store appeared to be reopening on Thursday.
The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment reported 918 deaths in the state in 2020 from gun injuries.
That marked an increase from 847 in 2019 and the most recorded in the state since data was collected in 1998.
Fifteen of those deaths were children ages 5 to 14.
This content was originally published here.
