Man Arrested After Toddler Is 'Shot in the Face' with Unsecured Gun: Report By Angel Saunders

A Virginia man was arrested after a toddler at the same home as him was injured in a shooting. 

In a press release shared by the Norfolk Police Department on Thursday, Jan. 8, authorities identified 21-year-old Zyquay H. Fulford as the individual who was charged in connection to the crime. 

The incident happened at approximately 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at a home in the 7600 block of Sheryl Drive. 

Police were called to the scene after a report of a 3-year-old boy who was believed to have sustained a gunshot wound. 

The child, who was not publicly identified, was transported to a hospital where he was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

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A preliminary investigation determined that the toddler found the unsecured gun at the residence and accidentally shot himself, according to police.

The young boy had been “shot in the face” WAVY reported, citing a police scanner. Responding officers placed the 3-year-old’s mother in the back of a police vehicle, the news station added.

Keyshawn Clark, who lives in the neighborhood, told the news station that moments after the shooting happened, the boy’s mom rushed to their home, hysterical as she looked for help.

She initially thought her son had been stabbed.

“She’s [doing] a lot of screaming,” Clark said. “My fiancèe was talking to the mother to, like, ‘Calm down, the help is on its way. Help was on the way.’ It was crazy because I didn’t even hear no gunshot. It was, like, so quiet. … That was no stab wound. … Blood [was] everywhere, blood on the hallway, blood everywhere. So I’m praying for them.”

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi told 13News Now, “Parents can be charged with felony child neglect, they can be charged with involuntary manslaughter. Those are felonies, multi-year felonies.”

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“If a child hurts themselves with a gun, that may or may not be a crime, but there is nothing I can do or that the justice system is going to be able to do to a parent that is going to be worse than a parent holding their dead child because they were careless with their gun,” Fatehi continued. “That is the burden any parent that has a child hurt or killed with a gun has to carry.” 

Fulford was subsequently charged with child neglect and contributing, according to the Norfolk Police Department. He was taken to Norfolk City Jail and released on bond.