Mother allegedly drives home, unloads groceries after teenage son shoots toddler sister in car

A mother and her 14-year-old son were taken into custody after he shot his toddler sister in the family’s car.

On July 20, Veronica Pyatt, 37, was driving with the teenage boy and her daughter sitting in the backseat of the vehicle.

According to the San Bernardino police, the older child was “manipulating a loaded firearm” when it “discharged a single round striking his 20-month-old half- sibling in the right upper leg.”

The teenager told Pyatt the gun fired, police said, but she allegedly kept driving, returning to the family’s home, where she unloaded groceries from the vehicle.

Police said Pyatt claimed “she did not realize her daughter had been struck.”

“Once home, the 14-year-old exited the vehicle with the toddler and disposed of the firearm and other evidence in a trashcan while Pyatt unloaded groceries,” police said, alleging, “Pyatt never attempted to remove the gun from the juvenile nor physically examine her children.”

Inside the family’s home, the teenager allegedly told his mother he had shot his sister.

Pyatt failed to notify authorities of the incident and transported her daughter to a local hospital. There, staff alerted authorities to the shooting, and began treating the child, who was later transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Pyatt was booked into jail while the teenager was taken to a juvenile detention facility. Both face “multiple felony charges,” police said.

San Bernardino police opened a child endangerment investigation and the Department of Child and Family Services is also looking into the incident.