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Toddler Fires Single Bullet That Wounds Both His Father and Pregnant Mother in New Mexico

Police say a 3-year-old boy shot his father and pregnant mother with just one bullet fired from a pistol he found in their Albuquerque motel room.
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A 3-year-old boy shot his father and pregnant mother with just one bullet fired from a pistol he found in their Albuquerque motel room Saturday.

The boy, who was reportedly reaching for an iPod in his mother's purse, pulled out her loaded handgun instead and accidentally fired a shot, police told the Albuquerque Journal.

The bullet struck his dad in the right buttock, went through his hip, and then hit his 8-month pregnant mom in the arm. Both were hospitalized with injuries that did not appear to be life threatening.

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The boy's 2-year-old sister was also present in the room — at America's Best Value Inn, where the family has been living — but was not hurt, cops said.

A 9mm handgun was found there after the shooting, which occurred around 2pm on the motel's second floor — just as the family was about to order a pizza, the boy's father told a local reporter.

"All of the sudden we heard a gun go off and I realized she was bleeding. And when I sat down on the bed I realized I had been shot too," the father, Justin Reynolds, told KOB News in the motel room. His girlfriend, the boy's mother Monique Villescas, spent Saturday night in the hospital due to her injuries.

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"I called 911 then I grabbed towels to try to stop her bleeding. I was worried because I didn't know if my son had shot himself. He was shocked, he was crying, it was all traumatizing," Reynolds continued.

The state's Children, Youth and Families Department took custody of the two young children for at least two days, and police are recommending that the parents be charged with criminal negligence.

"I can't tell you why they had a loaded gun next to small children. What are their priorities?" officer Simon Drobik said to the Guardian. "It was luck nobody got killed."

Two "huge" pit bulls were also in the motel room when police arrived at the scene, Drobik noted.

The bizarre shooting occurred the same day as another unexpected bloody incident in Albuquerque: a murder outside a TGI Friday's diner, local media noted.

Crazy day in — Roberto E. Rosales (@rosalesquique)February 1, 2015

Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter: @merhoffman

Photo via Flickr