BOY, 4, SAW IT AS A TOY
Weapon was found under parked car; no one injured in incident
Then, the child picked up the stray handgun from under the car in Albany and fired a single shot.
A 4-year-old child found a stray handgun on Elk Street, picked up the weapon and fired a single shot.
The handgun had been placed under a parked car in the West Hill neighborhood, police say. When the car drove away on Thursday afternoon, the child thought the gun was a toy, retrieved it and pulled the trigger.
Nobody was injured as a result. But the incident serves to underscore the prevalence of guns on city streets.
“No one — especially a fouryear-old — should ever be exposed to this traumatic situation,” Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said. “This could have been a tragic incident, and we as a community must work together to prevent this from happening again.”
After firing the handgun, the child dropped it and ran to his mother, who was on a nearby
porch. Police were then called to recover the gun left between Quail and Ontario streets.
“I’m thankful that this toddler is safe,” Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said. “This incident could have ended much differently and is a reminder of the dangers posed when these types of weapons are on our streets.”
Hawkins and Sheehan, and Councilmember Joyce Love, met with the child’s family on Thursday. Sheehan called illegal guns “a menace to our community.” Earlier this month, a 12-yearboy in Troy was shot and potentially permanently paralyzed by a bullet that was shot through his window. In September, also in Troy, 11-year-old Ayshawn Davis was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Just a month earlier, a 7year-old was shot in the knee in Albany, while a 10-year-old was hit by a stray bullet in the city in June.
Police say they are investigating how long the handgun was under the parked car and trying to determine who put it there. Anyone with information is asked to call the Albany Police Detective Division at 518462-8039.
In 2008, the killing of 10year-old Kathina Thomas in West Hill brought attention to so-called “community guns” — weapons hidden in neighborhoods, often by street gangs, for multiple users.
In that case, a teenager said he took a gun stashed in a shed near his apartment at the Ida Yarbrough Homes in Arbor Hill, rode his bike uptown and fired at a rival teen he thought was going to shoot at him. The bullet struck Kathina instead.