HOMESTEAD, Fla. – New details were released Monday, a day after a 3-year-old boy shot himself at a home in Homestead.
According to Homestead police, the boy shot himself in the foot with his mother’s gun. His mother is a police officer for the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, authorities confirmed.
Homestead police said the shooting was reported around 1:55 p.m. Sunday along Southeast 26th Terrace.
Police said the officer was preparing food when her son got ahold of her gun and accidentally shot himself.
The gun was personally owned, and was not the officer’s department-issued service weapon, authorities confirmed.
The boy was airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, police said.
Police said the mother has been arrested on a charge of child neglect with great bodily harm.
She has been identified as Stephanie Alondra Jerez.
“The Homestead Police Department takes cases involving child endangerment very seriously, and we are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all children in our community,” the department said Monday in a news release. “The Homestead Police Department urges all gun owners to securely store firearms and to educate themselves and their families about gun safety.”
Jerez appeared in bond court Monday morning, where a judge set her bond at $5,000.
The judge said Jerez would be permitted to be around her son, unless a Florida Department of Children and Families order changes that.
The judge, however, said Jerez would not be allowed to bring guns into her home with children present and cannot carry a gun unless it’s for work.
“Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is aware of a non-school related incident involving a Miami-Dade Schools Police officer that occurred over the weekend,” the district said in a statement. “The officer has been arrested by the Homestead Police Department. The Miami-Dade Schools Police Department has relieved the officer of duty pending the outcome of the investigation.”