6-year-old shoots 3-year-old brother

By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 20, 2010
Updated: 02/20/2010 09:44 pm

CLEARWATER - A 6-year-old boy took a gun that had been left on top of a television in a bedroom and shot his 3-year-old brother Saturday night, Clearwater police said.

The wounded child, who was identified as Gabriel Carpio, was flown to Bayfront Medical Center. He was expected to be transferred to All Children's Hospital, said Elizabeth Watts, Clearwater's public safety spokeswoman.

He was in critical but stable condition, Watts said. He was shot in the upper torso, but not the head. Authorities are hopeful he will survive.

Authorities are not releasing his brother's name or the parents' names.

At the time of the 5:06 p.m. shooting at 1781 N. Fort Harrison Ave., the boys' mother was home, but the father was not, Watts said.

She said the .32-caliber semi-automatic handgun belonged to the father.

There were no prior calls for service at the home, Watts said.

No charges were expected to be filed Sunday, she said, and the case will be referred to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office so prosecutors can decide whether to file charges.

Neighbor Theresa Rubalcava said she was cleaning out a van when she heard screaming. She looked and saw the wounded boy's mother holding her child on some steps. Rubalcava ran to help.

"She was crying and she was holding him and she was on with 911 and she was panicking," Rubalcava said. "I took her son from her and she said, 'He's been shot,'" Rubalcava said.

"She lifted up his shirt and he had a hole right here," Rubalcava said, pointing to a spot to the left of her sternum. There was no blood leaving the wound.

Rubalcava said she laid the child down and tried to keep him calm while she told a neighbor to call 911. It wasn't apparent that the dispatcher on the line with the boy's mother had made it clear help was on the way, Rubalcava said.

"Nobody was saying, 'OK, the ambulance is on the way,' " Rubalcava said. "This woman was freaking out."

The wounded boy, on the other hand, appeared to be in shock but was conscious and moving, Rubalcava said.

"When I asked him his name, he tried to tell me," she said.

From: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/feb/20/202144/boy-shot-while-playing-gun-clearwater-police-say/