Two Florida parents were jailed over the weekend after their 4-year-old twin boys were shot after finding a handgun underneath a couch cushion at their family home, police said.
The children were taken to an Orlando hospital and are in critical but stable condition, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Keishara B. Goodrum, 39, was arrested on two counts of child neglect with great bodily harm, and Maurice Wayne Bright Jr., 40, was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. It’s not clear if they have attorneys.
Goodrum told detectives that the night before the incident she had been drinking alcohol and grabbed her handgun, an arrest affidavit states. She said she was not wearing clothing that had a waistband and placed the gun under the couch cushion in the living room, according to the document.
Goodrum said she forgot to remove the gun from underneath the cushion.
On Saturday morning, Goodrum said she was in the kitchen cooking for her family when she heard “a loud ‘pop’ in the living room.
“As she continued to cook, Keishara heard a loud ‘pop’ that she later described as a firearm being shot,” the affidavit says.
Goodrum told detectives that she saw one of her twin boys with a wound near his arm.
Bright, who told detectives that he was in the backyard, rushed into the house when he heard the commotion.
The parents said they quickly put both of the boys into the car and as they were driving to the hospital, they realized the second child had also been injured.
Deputies began investigating after they were called to Advent Health East for a report of two young boys with gunshot wounds. Three firearms were found in the couple's home.
