COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)–Columbus police are praising two young children who they said found a gun in a field, did not touch it, and told their mothers.
Officers responded to the 100 block of West 10th Avenue, on Tuesday evening, after a student from The Ohio State University reported he was robbed of his vehicle at gunpoint.
Police said the 15-year-old suspect led them on a nine-minute pursuit, during which it is believed that he threw a gun from the vehicle.
Shortly after the chase concluded, Officers Sarah McBane and Steve Huber were dispatched to a small field near Saint Clair Avenue and E.A. Parham Street, which was along the route of the pursuit. Upon arriving, they learned that a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old had found a gun there.
“I was extremely grateful that they hadn’t touched it,” McBane said. “I was extremely grateful that they told their parents what was going on, and I was extremely grateful that we were able to come secure the firearm before anybody was injured by it.”
Tamar Berry said her son was the 4-year-old who found the weapon and he tried stopping his 3-year-old relative from getting to it.
“I’m just grateful,” Berry said. “I’m very, very grateful. You hear a lot of horror stories about children touching guns and then anything happening and so I’m just — I’m really grateful at the outcome.”
The 15-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the pursuit ended near Mount Vernon Avenue and Garfield Avenue.