A father told his four-year-old child to fire a gun at officers following a dispute over a McDonald’s order, police in Utah have said. The gun was seized from the child just as it was fired.
The incident happened on Monday lunchtime at a drive-through restaurant in Midvale, in suburban Salt Lake City. The unidentified 21-year-old man had begun arguing with staff, demanding his order be corrected while brandishing a gun in their direction, Unified Police spokeswoman Sergeant Melody Cutler told the media.
Staff corrected his order, asked him to move into a waiting area, and called the police. The disgruntled customer apparently failed to cooperate with the attending officers and had to be pulled from his vehicle. The agents then spotted the child holding the gun, which was pointed towards them. An officer managed to push the gun to one side as it was fired, receiving a minor injury to his arm as he did so.
According to Sgt Cutler, the officer in question shouted “Kid!”, alerting his colleagues not to fire back at the four-year-old. A witness informed the police that they had heard the father tell the child, who was in the backseat with a three-year-old sibling, to shoot at the cops, Cutler said.
The father remains in custody and Unified Police say the incident is currently an “active investigation.”