BEECH GROVE, Ind. — An Indiana man has been arrested and faces charges after police said his young son was seen on video waving a loaded gun.
A reality television show which features the Beech Grove Police Department, “On Patrol: Live,” was on the air on Saturday night when Ring doorbell footage showed a child playing with a handgun, WXIN reported.
In a police report obtained by WRTV, officers said the 9mm handgun was loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition.
Police were called to the scene by neighbors who saw the child in the hallway.
“As I opened the door, he flipped the gun toward me, and I saw the barrel,” Conor Preer, a neighbor who called 911, told WISH. “The second I saw it, I knew it was real.”
“It’s almost incomprehensible, what you’re watching,” Beech Grove Deputy Police Chief Robert Mercuri told 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 watch that video, parent or non-parent, and not be shocked and disturbed.”
“I came back to the door and opened it to see where he was up the stairs, and that’s when he looked down and pointed it at me and said something like, ‘Look what I got. Ha ha,’” Nicole Summers, a neighbor, told WISH.
In a video from a neighbor’s doorbell that the police department shared with WRTV, the young child, dressed only in a diaper, can be seen pointing the gun at himself and spinning around with the weapon.
“You see the child pull the trigger. You see where the gun is pointed at,” Mercuri told WXIN.
The child’s father, identified as Shane Osborne, 45, told officers at the scene that he was sick and had been sleeping when his son got out of the house, WTHR reported. Osborne denied having a gun in the home.
Officers located the gun after the child led them to a rolltop desk in the apartment, according to court documents obtained by WTHR.
Osborne allegedly told detectives that the gun belonged to his cousin and was left at his home when the cousin felt “mentally unstable,” according to WRTV.
Osborne was charged with child neglect. Police told WTHR that he could face additional charges because he is a felon.
Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley released a statement to WISH after seeing the footage, saying, “As with all of you, I’m mortified with what took place and I’m so thankful that no one was hurt, especially the young child. I appreciate the quick action taken by the Beech Grove Police Department to secure the small child and the gun in question. 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.”
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