A 10-year-old child was wounded Tuesday afternoon after accidentally firing an unattended gun in a parked car at the Forest Park Office Green office park in Farmington, and a 19-year-old has been arrested on seven charges, according to Farmington police.
Police identified the suspect as Jordan Cruz, 19. He was held on a $300,000 surety bond and was due to be arraigned Tuesday morning. The outcome of the appearance was not immediately available.
Officers responded to a medical call at 1 Forest Park Drive after the child sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg. According to the department's account, Cruz was illegally in possession of a firearm and had left it unattended in the car with the child, who police described as a family member. The weapon discharged accidentally.
The child was transferred to Connecticut Children's, the Hartford-based pediatric hospital. Police described the injuries as non-life-threatening and said the child is in stable condition.
Cruz is charged with negligent storage of a firearm, risk of injury to a child, first-degree reckless endangerment, carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a large-capacity magazine, illegal possession of a firearm with no serial number, and illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle. Connecticut law requires gun owners to secure firearms whenever they are not in their immediate possession or control.
The count for possessing a firearm without a serial number refers to a so-called "ghost gun," a category of weapon Connecticut lawmakers have moved to restrict this spring. House Bill 5043 would redefine unfinished frames and receivers as firearms and tighten restrictions on convertible pistols. The bill passed the Connecticut House on April 22 by an 86-64 vote. It was on the state Senate calendar Tuesday — the same day as the Forest Park Drive incident.
The risk-of-injury-to-a-child count, codified at Connecticut General Statutes § 53-21, has appeared in four Farmington arrests in the past three weeks under varied circumstances: an April 8 warrant arrest at 319 New Britain Avenue, an April 9 incident on Farm Glen Boulevard, an April 24 arrest at 1 Batterson Park Road, and Tuesday's incident at 1 Forest Park Drive.
The address is a commercial office park, not a residential property. Forest Park Office Green sits about 10 miles from downtown Hartford.
The Farmington Police Department had not yet posted an official press release to its public arrest log as of late Tuesday evening; the most recent log entry, a three-arrest brief covering April 27 and 28, did not include the Forest Park incident. The Mercury has reached out to the department for additional comment and will update this article as more information becomes available.