‘The baby was shot’: Nurse recalls putting pressure on toddler’s self-inflicted gunshot wound
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — It was a shocking sight for Marsha Tilton, as she walked out of her Pasco County apartment Tuesday to see a mother holding a baby covered in blood.
“She was screaming and I couldn’t understand what she was saying,” Tilton said. “Finally, I got it.”
“She said, the baby was shot,” she said.
That’s when Tilton, a 20-year nurse, sprung into action.
“I ran back to the house and grabbed a towel, got ahold of the baby and put pressure because that’s all I could do at that point,” she said.
Pasco County deputies said they got the call around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday and quickly responded to the Stengal Loop area in between Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel.
As they began to investigate, deputies realized the toddler’s wound came from a bullet.
“[A] 2-year-old child got ahold of a gun and shot themselves in the leg,” Pasco Sheriff’s Office public information officer Amanda Hunter said.
Deputies said the child was taken to a hospital and appears to have non-life threatening injuries.
Tilton told 8 On Your Side she held pressure on the wound for a few minutes before first responders arrived.
“Thank god it was just on the ankle and it was one gunshot wound, but it didn’t go through the back,” she said.
The toddler is expected to survive, as deputies continue to investigate how he got the gun in the first place.
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