Police recover gun in 2-year-old’s shooting
Port St. Lucie, Fl (treasurecoast.com) -A day after authorities arrested a man in connection with the June 11 shooting of a 2-year-old child in Port St. Lucie, a gun was recovered police say was involved in the incident.
Mohammed Akib Faiyaz, 21, of Boca Raton, was apprehended Monday in Palm Beach County by members of a U.S. Marshals Task Force during a traffic stop.
On Tuesday, Port St. Lucie Police said they located the Glock 43 9mm weapon they believe the child found on a table left there by Faiyaz, who’d been visiting the child’s mother at the Evergreen Condominium complex.
Assistant Police Chief Richard Del Toro on Monday said investigators believe the child discharged the weapon and was struck in the head, suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The child survived, he said, and is currently conscious and alert.
Faiyaz asked the friend to keep the gun without giving a specific reason, according to information released by police spokesman Sgt. Keith Boham.
Detectives and deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office retrieved the firearm. No evidence suggests the friend aided Faiyaz, Boham stated.
Faiyaz, who faces felony charges of culpable negligence and carrying a concealed weapon without a license, is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bond, records show.
It’s unclear if Faiyaz has an attorney representing him.
He and the child’s mother met on a social media dating app, according to Del Toro.
The mother invited Faiyaz to her home on June 11 when the shooting happened around 11:56 p.m.
Faiyaz dropped off the mother and child at a hospital less than a mile from the condo complex and then left, according to Del Toro.
