A Florida mother and her boyfriend were arrested Friday in connection to the accidental shooting death of a 2-year-old boy.
Port St. Lucie Police responded to the couple’s home on Feb. 18 at around 7 p.m. to find the 2-year-old bleeding on a bed and gasping for air after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.
His mother, 24-year-old Natalie Cruz, told detectives the boy and another child were laying with her on a bed when the shooting occurred.
“She does not know where the firearm was but obviously it was on the bed because he reached it fast,” a family member said.
The woman claimed that her boyfriend, 25-year-old Quintenn Wesley, had put a gun on the back of a glass table next to the bed after taking out the magazine.
Investigators refuted that claim stating that officers found a full magazine near the gun. They also learned from a family member that Wesley had a gun safe in the home but never used it.
The couple was arrested while allegedly trying to flee. Cruz was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and culpable negligence while allowing a minor to access a firearm resulting in death. Wesley was charged with culpable negligence resulting in death.
