‘Person of Interest’ identified in shooting of 2-year-old at Spanish Fork Day Care
The man shot at birds in the area.
The Leap Ahead Daycare will be shown on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 in Spanish Fork, Utah. A two-year-old boy was shot in the head by a stray bullet while playing in front of a daycare in Utah, the facility’s owner and authorities said. Spanish Fork Police believe the bullet came from a buckshot or airgun blast fired from a field across the street west of the facility, Lt. Clay Slaymaker. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
An “interesting person” has been identified after a two-year-old boy was hit in the head by a stray bullet on Monday outside a daycare center in Spanish Fork, police said.
On Wednesday morning, Spanish Fork police announced that “an adult male … was shooting birds with a .22 caliber airgun in the area west of the daycare” when the boy was shot. The man is cooperating with the police, the investigation is “underway”.
Once the investigation is complete, the Spanish Fork City Attorney’s Office will rule on possible charges. The suspect’s name was not released.
The victim was playing with several other children in a fenced-off area in front of the Leap Ahead Childcare Center, located near 2000 North and 300 West in Spanish Fork. At the time, two adults were watching the children and told police the boy “appeared to stumble” and was seen “bleeding from his face,” according to a press release.
Not knowing the boy had been shot, the daycare staff called the child’s parents, who took the boy to a hospital. Scans there showed the boy had a small-caliber bullet in his head, police said.
The two-year-old was transferred to the Primary Children’s Hospital. According to police, the boy remained hospitalized as of Wednesday morning and said his condition was “stable and doing better.”
