An Indiana man opened the door of his family’s apartment last Saturday and immediately shut it. Outside, a small child was holding a gun. The child had moved his arm to point the firearm toward the man. The man closed the door and instructed his parents, who were also inside the apartment, to move away from the entryway, reports the Washington Post. The Beech Grove, In., family called the police, leading officers to search the apartment where the 4-year-old lived. The entire incident was captured on camera during an episode of “On Patrol: Live,” a show that follows police departments. Police arrested the child’s father, Shane Osborne, 45, on a charge of neglect of a dependent. The episode, which showed footage of the child waving the gun around and pulling the trigger, brought fuel to a heated national conversation about children’s access to firearms after a 6-year-old shot his teacher at a Virginia elementary school this month.
The child in Beech Grove was released to his mother. Beech Grove is one of eight police departments featured in “On Patrol: Live,” which airs Fridays and Saturdays on the network REELZ. Footage of the incident begins with police Sgt. Zach Horgan speaking with the family who made the 911 call. Then, Horgan and three other officers entered the apartment where the boy lived. “Well, we’re here because the downstairs neighbors said they saw your son running around with something they thought was a silver handgun,” one of the officers said to a man in the apartment. He responded: “We don’t have a silver handgun.” A neighbor showed officers security camera footage with the child sitting on the stairs with the gun and pulling the trigger multiple times. The weapon did not fire, but police said the firearm was loaded. After seeing the footage, police went to the boy’s apartment a second time. The man again said he did not have a gun but conceded that a cousin might have had one inside the apartment. With his permission, the Beech Grove officers searched the unit and found a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun in a desk. Indiana does not have a state law that requires gun owners to lock their firearms.
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