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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Parents of boy shot in face argued about guns

The Columbian
Published:

LAKE STEVENS — The parents of a 3-year-old boy who was accidentally shot in the face by a 4-year-old neighbor had argued about access to guns at their home, court records show.

The boy was wounded Friday night as the toddlers played in a bedroom of the home in Lake Stevens, about 30 miles northeast of Seattle. He was in serious condition Tuesday in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

The father was home at the time, heard a noise and found his son with a mouth injury that he initially thought was caused by a door hitting the boy in the face. The child was taken to a hospital in Everett, where doctors determined the boy had been shot and airlifted him to the Seattle hospital.

The parents are cooperating with the investigation, and no one has been arrested, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Tuesday.

The boy’s mother had filed a protection order against the father in January 2013, saying he left a gun in a nightstand and in a car with children. In a divorce filing, he accused her of leaving a handgun in her purse. Both denied the accusations and said they were responsible gun owners, The Seattle Times reported Monday.

The protection order was dismissed a few weeks later due to insufficient evidence of domestic violence, the newspaper reported.

In his response, the father wrote that he is a responsible gun owner and keeps most of his firearms in a locked closet with its own security system. He said he has legally carried a gun for 20 years but has never pulled it on anyone. He wrote he has a clean criminal record and has a concealed-carry permit.

“I am an avid collector, and my hobby is no more dangerous than if I were to collect stamps,” the father wrote. His wife called that “ridiculous” in another court document.

The father’s divorce case was dismissed in October due to inactivity, documents show.

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