HAMILTON
COUNTY, TN. (WRCB) -- Just days before Christmas, a Harrison family is gathered
at Erlanger, waiting for good news.
Their 2-year
old was shot while playing with his grandfather's gun.
The boy was rushed
into emergency surgery.
All
neighbors can do is wait, pray and hope gun owners are paying attention.
Flashing
blue lights illuminated River Stream Road as Yvonne Swafford watched police tape
off her neighbor's yard.
"We just waited to see what had happened, and then that's when we saw the small
boy come out on the stretcher," Swafford says.
Hamilton County authorities say the 2-year-old boy was shot in the stomach with
a .40 caliber handgun.
The firearm belonged to his grandfather.
"One of those situations where someone has their gun laying out, where a child
could get to it and the child shot himself with it," Swafford says.
Swafford invited the boy's family into her home as police launched their
investigation.
"They taped off their house and they didn't have anywhere to go," she says. "And
at a time like this, he was so distraught."
"The child has been transported to the hospital and as we speak, is in surgery,"
says Janice Atkinson, with the sheriff's office.
Atkinson says it is too soon to tell what an investigation will show.
The first priority is the toddler's survival.
"We can only pray," Atkinson says.
Praying is exactly what neighbors will be doing.
"My hope is that the little boy will be just fine and everybody will just learn
from it," says Swafford.
Detectives
searched the home, which is standard protocol anytime there is a shooting.
Channel 3
asked if investigators believe charges could be filed.
They say it
is too early into their investigation to make that determination.
Stay with WRCBtv.com for updates to this story.
