Father arrested after 2-year-old son shoots himself with gun
Prosecutors said Luis Marin's 2-year-old son injured himself with a gun his father left on a bed.
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A Pottstown man whose son shot himself with an unsecured gun in the family’s home has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and related crimes, authorities said Thursday.
Luis Marin, 34, turned himself in to police Wednesday in connection with a May 15 incident that left his 2-year-old son with multiple injuries from a gunshot wound, after Marin left two handguns on a bed in his home, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said.
Police responded to Pottstown Hospital shortly before 5 p.m. that day for a report of a child with a gunshot wound, authorities said. The toddler was later transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where workers told police he had been shot and suffered broken ribs, a fractured scapula, and damage to his left lung, authorities said.
The child had also been burned and there were gunpowder residue marks on his skin, indicating the gun had either been pressed against his skin or was very close when it was fired, authorities said.
Investigators later learned that before the shooting, Marin had gone into a bedroom on the second floor of his home on West Street to get a crossbody bag to lend to his nephew, authorities said. Marin would normally store two handguns and ear protection in the bag, authorities said, but Marin removed them from the bag and placed them on the bed before giving the bag to his nephew, who left the house.
Marin was sitting on the bed, using his phone, when he heard a gunshot and saw his son was shot, authorities said. He later told police it was only when he heard the gunshot that he realized his son was in the bedroom with him, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Marin’s arrest.
He grabbed his son and ran outside, applying pressure to the gunshot wound, before he and the boy’s mother drove the child to Pottstown Hospital, authorities said.
Marin was released on $50,000 unsecured bail, with a provision that no firearms be kept in his home. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next month.