A 2-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet Monday while playing outside at a Spanish Fork day care, police said Tuesday.
The child was hit while playing with several other children in an area enclosed by a vinyl fence at Leap Ahead Childcare Center, located near 2000 North and 300 West in Spanish Fork, police confirmed. Two adults were watching the children at the time.
When the boy was struck, he “appeared to stumble” and was seen “bleeding from the face,” a news release states.
Day care workers called the child’s parents, who took the boy to a hospital. There, physicians learned through scans that he had a small caliber bullet lodged in his head, police said.
The boy was transferred to Primary Children’s Hospital. His condition wasn’t specified but he is considered stable, the release states. He hasn’t been identified.
(Rick Bowmer | AP) A bullet hole in the fence of Leap Ahead Childcare Center, a day care facility in Spanish Fork, is shown Tuesday, May 23, 2023. A 2-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet Monday while playing outside at the facility.
Investigators said the bullet that hit the child may have been fired from a field directly west of the day care facility, the release states. The release did not state whether police have identified who fired it.
“It appears this was a tragic accident,” Spanish Fork police said in the news release.
The field adjacent to the day care belongs to the city of Spanish Fork, Utah County property records indicate. No shooting is allowed in that field or the farmlands beyond it because the plots are within Spanish Fork city limits, said Lt. Cory Slaymaker with Spanish Fork police. Detectives continue to investigate.
A message left with the day care facility wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday. Leap Ahead Childcare Center is one of three Leap Ahead day care locations, according to a company website. The two others are located in Springville; the Spanish Fork facility recently opened.
