PALATKA, Fla. (AP) — Sheriff's investigators in north Florida were trying on Thursday to determine how a 4-year-old boy got his hands on the gun they say he used to shoot his mother as she drove a pickup truck.
Jamie Gilt, 31, of Jacksonville owns the .45-caliber gun the boy fired Tuesday afternoon, Putnam County Sheriff's Office spokesman Joseph Wells said.
Well said a deputy saw her behaving frantically inside the truck, which was stopped partially in the road. The deputy then saw she'd been shot in the back and the bullet had exited from her stomach area, Wells said.
Gilt told deputies her son had accidentally shot her, according to Wells. She was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, but investigators had not been able to interview her, Wells said.
The boy, who wasn't injured, is with relatives. The Florida Department of Children and Families also is investigating.
Under Florida law, it is a misdemeanor for someone to store or leave a loaded gun where a child has access to it.
"They must keep firearms secured and locked," Wells said.
