A man in Beech Grove, Indiana was arrested after his four-year-old was shown on a Live TV show waving a loaded gun.
Police arrested Shane Osborne and charged him with child neglect after scores of people watched law enforcement officers respond to the home.
The video was aired on the police show, On Patrol: Live during their live broadcast on Saturday, January 14. Dan Abrams, a presenter on the show, confirmed that they had obtained surveillance footage of the child with the weapon before playing the video on the show.
Moments after the police were seen arriving at the Beech Grove, Indiana apartment, viewers were shown surveillance footage taken from a neighbor’s home of the four-year-old child waving and pointing the loaded firearm.
The Beech Grove Police Department is among the eight police departments in the country that participate in the show, On Patrol: Live, which is broadcast on the Reelz network.
Just before the show went live at 9 pm, officers from the Beech Grove Police Department responded to the 911 call. They interviewed a neighbor in the apartment complex, who had called 911 saying she and her son had seen the toddler alone in the hallway outside their house waving the gun around and pointing it in their direction.
When officers arrived at the apartment where the child was living with his father, Osborne, they interviewed the dad, and he told them he did not own a gun. He said he was sick and had been sleeping, and didn’t know his son was in the hallway.
According to a show press release, when officers looked at the surveillance footage provided by the neighbor, it confirmed her story and showed the child brandishing the gun, playing with it like a toy, and pulling the trigger.
When officers later returned to the house to do a thorough search, they found the gun in the living room hidden under a television.
According to a statement by the police department, they found a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun similar to the one seen in the footage. Although the gun’s chamber had no rounds, the magazine had 15.
Mayor Dennis Buckley released a statement saying that he was mortified by what happened and thankful that nobody got hurt, especially the child. He praised officers from the police department for their quick action in securing the child and the firearm.
The neighbor who called the police, Nicole Summers, said that watching the video was heartbreaking and shocking, adding that you can’t unsee it once you see it. Speaking to a news outlet, Summers said that the child kept saying “pow, pow, pow, pow,” while waving the gun around.
According to the police, because Osborne is a felon, there is a possibility that he could face additional charges.
Osborne was scheduled to appear in court January 17, according to WTHR.