A 25-year-old Marion County Sheriff’s Office employee was arrested after a four-year-old child picked up a gun and shot himself in the hand.
On Monday, an Ocala Police Department officer responded to a local apartment in reference to a shooting incident involving a child.
A four-year-old child was being treated at Ocala Regional Medical Center for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the child’s right hand.
Upon arrival at the apartment, the officer was advised by an OPD sergeant that a Ruger LCP9 handgun had been recovered from the trunk of a vehicle that belonged to Carlene Antonette Jarrett.
The officer entered the apartment where the incident occurred and observed blood on the floor of the main room. Blood was also on a gray sweater that was placed on the couch.
A shell casing was located directly beneath the couch that the sweater was placed on.
Jarrett met with the officer in the parking lot outside of the apartment. She stated that she works for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as a detention assistant and she was going to take her test the following day to become a correctional officer.
Jarrett told the officer that a female friend had stopped by to visit the apartment. She confirmed that she owned the Ruger handgun that was found.
Jarrett mentioned that she was wearing the gray sweater and the handgun was kept in the sweater’s zipped pocket. When she was inside the apartment, she stated that she took off the sweater that contained the handgun and placed it on top of a table in the room.
According to Jarrett, the handgun had a bullet in the chamber and the safety was equipped.
Jarrett’s friend, and the friend’s four-year-old child, were in the main room. While the child was playing, Jarrett stated that she laid down on the couch and fell asleep.
She awoke to the sound of a gunshot, and she observed that the child’s hand had been shot.
The child’s mother rushed into the room, picked up her child, and yelled at Jarrett for leaving the handgun unattended.
Jarrett told the officer that she drove her friend and the child to ORMC. She stated that the handgun had been safely secured inside her sweater when she fell asleep, and she believed that it was her friend’s responsibility to watch the child.
On Tuesday, the officer spoke with the friend who stated that her child needed to have several fingers surgically reconstructed.
The friend stated that Jarrett had removed the gray sweater and placed it directly on the couch, not on the table. The friend was in the kitchen when the shot was fired.
Jarrett was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail. She is being charged with culpable negligence and her bond has been set at $2,000.
As of 12 p.m., Jarrett’s booking photo was not in the system.