Charges filed in shooting of toddler
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two 26-year-olds who were arrested in August were formally charged today with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury, according to court documents.
Antreaun Rice and Anaya Velazquez were charged formally today by the Marion County Prosecutor’s office.
The two were arrested after a 3-year-old was found shot in a car last month.
According to court documents, Antreaun Rice and Anaya Velazquez failed to keep a gun out of reach of the toddler and that act resulted in serious bodily injury, which was a gunshot wound.
A relative of the child tells News 8 that he is expected to make a full recovery after surgery.
Just after 5:05 p.m. on August 28, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were first sent to South Belmont Avenue on a report of a person shot. While on their way, they were then sent to the intersection of South Harding Street and West Morris Street, where they found the boy shot at a Wendy’s restaurant.
Officers arrived to find the toddler. Investigators later determined the boy suffered a self-inflicted, accidental gunshot wound. They also found out the shooting happened on South Belmont Avenue.
According to police, Rice told them he was driving the car and Velazquez was in the front seat holding the toddler. Police say there were three other children in the back seat ages 5,7, and 9.
According to Velazquez, she had picked up Rice from work after getting groceries, and in the process of moving the children and the groceries around, the toddler found the fun and shot himself.
Police say the children and both adults described hearing a loud pop or bang, and then discovering the toddler had shot himself in the stomach.
Police said they found a loaded .45 caliber handgun with an extended magazine in the trunk.
The two 26-year-olds were arrested on felony charges of child neglect as a result of the incident, IMPD says. Anaya Velazquez and Antreaun Rice were booked into the Marion County jail.
IMPD says the shooting happened at a different location in the 2500 block of South Belmont Avenue. Detectives got a search warrant for a vehicle and located a firearm.
IMPD Sgt. William Young said “What we’ve seen over the last couple days is certainly alarming for not only our agency but the city as a whole. It is certainly disturbing whenever we see not only acts of violence toward children but when we have accidental shootings regarding children.”