Police officer indicted
A Las Vegas police officer and his wife were indicted by a Clark County grand jury two months after their 2-year-old son shot himself with a handgun in their Overton home on Feb. 6.
Jared and Shawnee Bledsoe, both 27, face one felony count each of child abuse and neglect resulting in substantial bodily harm.
No bail was set, and both parents will be summoned to appear in District Court on April 29.
Police have said Jared Benjamin Bledsoe was put to bed in his parents' bedroom late that evening when he discovered the gun in a nightstand. The gun discharged, striking the child in the arm and abdomen, police said.
State law requires parents to store firearms securely.
According to court documents, the Bledsoes told investigators that they put their son to sleep in their master bedroom while they played cards with friends in the kitchen.
The officer's service weapon, a .45-caliber Wilson 1911, was in the nightstand.
About half an hour after putting the boy to bed, they heard a gunshot in the master bedroom. When they ran inside, they found their wounded son on his back. The nightstand drawer was open.
Jared Bledsoe told detectives that he batted the gun off his son's chest and began applying pressure to the boy's abdomen. The bullet had gone into the boy's abdomen, through his small bowel, liver, transverse colon, diaphragm, lung and arm.
The Bledsoe's also have a 4-year-old son.
The charge probably will cost Jared Bledsoe his job with the Police Department, officials have said. He was with the department for less than a year and under a probationary period.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@
reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.
