Who is Veronica Pyatt? California mom held as son, 14, shoots toddler sister in car
SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA: A California mother and her 14-year-old teenage son are facing felony charges after the son accidentally shot his 20-month-old half-sister as they were driving. According to reports, the incident happened on Tuesday, July 20, when Veronica Pratt's teen son was allegedly "manipulating a loaded firearm in the back seat" of the vehicle, San Bernardino police said.
The gun discharged, striking the toddler girl in the right upper leg. Instead of pulling over the vehicle, Pyatt, 37, continued to drive after the boy told her that he had shot a bullet accidentally.
Pyatt later told police she hadn’t realized her daughter was shot. It is reported that Pyatt wasn't aware of her daughter’s injury when they arrived home and she unloaded groceries while the teen took the little girl out of the vehicle "and disposed of the firearm and other evidence in a trashcan".
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We have reported similar cases in the past. Earlier this year, we reported a Tullamarine murder-suicide case, where a mother killed her three children, aged 3, 5 and 7, before taking her own life at home. Last month, we reported the case of Majelic Young, a North Carolina mother who made her 4-year-old daughter stand for 3 days till she died. We also reported the case of Jovan Trevino, a Las Vegas mom who murdered her daughter, 1, and 4-year-old son by drowning them.
Pyatt's 14-year-old son later told his mother that the little girl had been wounded once all three were inside the home. Pyatt took the little girl to the Community Hospital of San Bernardino, where hospital staff called the police. The little girl was later moved to Loma Linda University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Police stated that Pyatt never tried to take the gun from her son, physically examine the children, or call the police. The department arrested both mother and the teen child on multiple felony charges and handed the case to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
Pyatt is currently booked on suspicion of child abuse and is held on a $100K bond. Her son was booked into a San Bernardino County Juvenile detention center where he faced unspecified charges. It is not clear how or where the boy came across the gun. The whereabouts of the children’s father were also not clear.