3-Year-Old Finds And Shoots Gun In Deltona, 30-Year-Old Mother Arrested

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Deltona, FL – On Monday, a 30-year-old Deltona woman was arrested after her 3-year-old son found and pulled the trigger of her loaded gun. While no one was injured, the bullet shattered their car window and was lodged in the door frame of the Good Shepherd Academy church school on Howland Boulevard. The woman, Abbie Maldonado, was picking up her son from school when she left him in the car alone while walking in the school parking lot. She says she had left the passenger side door in the back of the car open so she could watch him. She says she heard a loud noise and went to check on her son but she did not notice anything wrong. She eventually took the boy to the bathroom and upon returning, she found the driver’s window broken. Maldonado asked nearby church members if they saw anything and she went back to the car to see her gun on the front seat. The incident was reported to the school and then the Volusia County Sherriff’s Office via 911. “Nobody’s hurt, but we had a parent that has a concealed weapon permit and a child got a hold of it and pulled the trigger,” said the caller. After getting to the scene at 3:45 PM, deputies investigated the incident and Maldonado was charged with felony child neglect.

(Maldonado mugshot courtesy Volusia County Jail)

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