A baby in Lebanon, Tennessee, had an extraordinarily close call after a single bullet tore through walls of an apartment and landed in the child's crib, authorities said. The infant was not hurt, but police say the round came from a handgun fired inside a neighboring unit at the Limestone Trail Apartments, and the person behind the trigger was a 14-year-old boy. Investigators later found the gun, which had been reported stolen, hidden in the teen's closet and took him into custody on multiple charges.
What police say
Officers were called to the complex on Saturday after a tenant returned home and noticed bullet holes in their unit. Crime-scene technicians determined that a single round had passed through a shared wall, traveled through another interior wall and then "bounced around" a bedroom before coming to rest in the baby's crib, according to WZTV.
Investigators told the station the handgun had been stolen during a car break-in on June 2 and was later found hidden in the 14-year-old's closet. While officers were speaking with the teen and a guardian, the boy became argumentative and combative, police said, and he was taken into custody.
"No one was hurt," authorities told the station, which reports the teenager was charged with possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and multiple counts of assault on law-enforcement officers, according to WZTV. Officers say the teen resisted by kicking and spitting at them, and he was booked into a juvenile detention facility. The report includes a photo, credited to the Lebanon Police Department, that shows the recovered bullet and the damage to interior walls.
Charges and juvenile process
The charges investigators described for the 14-year-old carry different consequences in juvenile court than they would in adult criminal court. In limited circumstances, prosecutors can ask to transfer serious cases out of juvenile court. Tennessee law allows secure detention for juveniles accused of weapons offenses and other serious delinquent acts, and it requires prompt detention hearings when a child is held, according to Tennessee Code Title 37. That statute also spells out when and how a juvenile case can be transferred to adult court in higher-severity situations.
Why it matters
Even without physical injuries, the near miss in Lebanon underscores a broader problem: firearm deaths and injuries among children and adolescents increased sharply in recent years and remain a public-health concern, with significant variation among states, according to analysis by KFF. Public-health researchers and pediatric experts recommend storing guns unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition to cut down on accidental shootings and thefts, and clinical reviews indicate that safe-storage policies and interventions can reduce child access and unintentional injuries. Local officials say the close call at Limestone Trail Apartments is a fresh reminder to secure firearms and report stolen weapons promptly.
