Man arrested after a 3-year-old picks up his gun – and points it

A man was arrested Thursday after a 3-year-old picked up a handgun the man had left on a couch, Porterville police said.

About 12:11 p.m. Wednesday, police went to a residence on the 1300 block of North Lindale Place after getting a call that a child had access to an unattended handgun. Police said Armando Ortega, 38, left a handgun on the couch and then went into another room.

That's when the child picked the handgun up from the couch and pointed it at another family member, police said. The handgun was quickly taken away and no one was injured.

Ortega fled the scene with the gun before officers arrived, but police found him and the handgun at his home the next day.

He was arrested and booked into the Tulare County Jail for child endangerment likely to cause great bodily harm.

This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Man arrested after a 3-year-old picks up his gun – and points it."