HIALEAH, Fla. – A 33-year-old man was arrested Sunday by Hialeah police after the man’s nephew accidentally shot himself with his gun, authorities said.
According to an arrest report, Derrick John Spence Jr., of Miami, has temporary custody of the 10-year-old.
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Police said a Hialeah police officer was dispatched to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale Saturday night following the shooting.
According to the report, the boy told the officer that he had gone to a Little Caesars, located at 901 E. Eighth Ave. in Hialeah, with his uncle, and while he was waiting in his uncle’s Nissan Altima, he opened the glove compartment and found the gun.
Police said the boy told the officer that he was moving the gun around when he accidentally shot himself in the left hand.
According to the arrest report, Spence initially drove the boy to the victim’s grandmother’s home, where they live.
Detectives questioned the grandmother and said she told them her grandson initially told her he hurt his hand by slamming it in the vehicle’s door, but due to the severity of the injury, she decided to drive him to the hospital.
Police said Spence remained at the grandmother’s home.
According to the report, the victim admitted to his grandmother as she was driving him to the hospital that he had accidentally shot himself.
Police said the boy’s grandfather also told them that he didn’t believe his grandson’s injury was consistent with getting his hand slammed in a car door and that he later noticed a bullet hole in the driver’s side door of Spence’s vehicle.
He also told them he saw Spence cleaning blood from the inside of the car, authorities said.
According to the arrest report, Spence was interviewed by detectives and said he noticed his nephew hunched over and holding his left hand after he went into the Little Caesars.
Police said Spence claimed he didn’t realize his nephew was injured, and he went back into the business to pick up his order. He said he then drove back home, and that’s when he noticed the injury and asked the boy what happened.
Spence claimed that his nephew told him that he slammed his hand in the door of his car, and he told him to show the injury to his grandmother who then decided to take him to the hospital, according to the report.
Further statements made by Spence were redacted from the publicly released report.
Spence was arrested on a charge of culpable negligence with a firearm in easy access of a minor.
As of Monday afternoon, Spence was being held at the Metrowest Detention Center on a $2,500 bond.