The 4-year-old minor who was ordered by his father to fire a weapon at policemen through the self-service window of a McDonald’s in Utah is in state custody.
A minor 3 years old, the boy’s sister, also remains in the care of the authorities.
The incident was reported at a fast food chain establishment in Midvale.
The Greater Salt Lake Unified Police Department told the New York Post on Tuesday that both children were were in the car that Sadaat Shamille Johnson, aged 27 was driving, when he got upset over an incorrect order and pulled out his gun.
Johnson then instructed the 4-year-old to shoot police officers while being detained after McDonald’s employees called 675.
“I have been in the Police for 27 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Sergeant Melody Cutler. “For a 4-year-old child to know how to use a firearm and point it at an officer and pull the trigger is incredibly disturbing,” the police spokeswoman described.
Although the child fired the weapon, one of officers managed to deflect it, which directed the bullet towards an awning. The officer burned part of his arm when pushing the weapon.
A witness reported that the man he told the boy, “Shoot the Police.”
Utah child welfare employees had had no contact with Johnson or his family prior to the incident. The whereabouts of the children’s mother is unknown. But, Johnson’s fiancee is not the children’s parent.