A 3-year-old child in Florida accidentally shot himself in the foot after he found a gun that belonged to his mother, a Miami-Dade County school police officer.
Officers in Homestead, about 40 miles southwest of Miami, were called to a home Sunday afternoon and found the child suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police learned that the child shot himself while his mother was preparing food, they said in a news release.
The child was stable at a hospital.
The mother, identified in an arrest affidavit as Stephanie Jerez, was arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm, Homestead police said. The weapon was a personal firearm, not the mother's service weapon.
"The Homestead Police Department takes cases involving child endangerment very seriously, and we are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all children in our community," police said, reminding gun owners to practice firearm safety.
"The Homestead Police Department urges all gun owners to securely store firearms and to educate themselves and their families about gun safety," authorities said in a statement.
Jerez was relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation, Miami-Dade County Public Schools said in a statement to NBC South Florida.
Jerez appeared Monday in court, where a judge set her bond at $5,000. She is barred from using, purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition unless it's work-related, according to the station.
Her attorney, Robert C. Buschel, told NBC South Florida that his client is "recovering well" and called what happened a "tragedy that does not require additional punishment."