Indiana father arrested after security camera showed toddler son playing with handgun
INDIANAPOLIS – An Indiana man is facing a felony child neglect charge after his toddler son allegedly waved a handgun in the air and pointed the weapon at his own head with his finger on the trigger.
Footage of the child playing with a gun in a stairwell was captured by a neighbor's security camera and later aired on television.
A police search, which ended in the arrest of Shane Osborne, was captured on live film and broadcast as part of the Reelz series “On Patrol: Live.” The toddler did not harm himself or others.
The aired segment began when officers responded to a report of a child with a gun. They conducted a search of Osborne's apartment, located a neighbor's security footage of the child with the gun and arrested Osborne, according to a probable cause affidavit and footage of the encounter.
Beech Grove, Indiana, police officers were alerted to the situation by a downstairs neighbor, who reported the child had a handgun and was pointing it at people, according to police documents.
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The TV show captured a toddler answering the door when police arrived at the apartment unit. Osborne, 45, told police he had been sick all day, did not know his child left the unit and denied having a real or toy gun in the apartment.
“I have never brought a gun into this house,” Osborne said. “If there is, it’s my cousin’s."
Osborne and police failed to located the gun during their first search, according to the affidavit. Later, when police asked the toddler where he had put the gun they were led to a roll-top desk in which they found a semi-automatic 9mm pistol, NewsNation reported.
The gun had 15 rounds in the magazine but no rounds in the chamber, according to police documents.
Police arrested Osborne after another neighbor showed them security footage, which was broadcast on the TV show, of the child waiving the gun above his head. At one point in the video, the child points the gun toward his face.
Osborne told officers the firearm belonged to his cousin.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.