A 2-year-old child was shot in the head by a stray bullet while playing outside at a Utah daycare on Monday and is in stable condition, police said.
The incident took place at Leap Ahead Daycare in Spanish Fork, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. The child, who was under the supervision of two adults in the daycare’s vinyl fenced area, stumbled and started bleeding from his face.
It wasn’t until he was brought to the hospital that doctors discovered the boy had a “small caliber bullet lodged in its head,” the Spanish Fork Police Department said in a statement. The child was then transferred to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he received treatment.
Doctors treating the child have decided to leave the bullet in the boy’s head for fear of causing more damage, NBC News affiliate KSL reported. The boy is expected to make a full recovery.
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“We are absolutely surprised,” Leap Ahead owner Lane Mugleston told KSL. “We are dumbfounded that this would happen in Spanish Fork.”
Spanish Fork detectives identified a man who was shooting birds with a .22 caliber air rifle in the open fields west of the daycare, police said on Wednesday. Police said the man is cooperating with investigators.
No charges will be filed until the investigation is complete and the man’s name will not be released unless there are formal charges, according to police.
