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Left: Natalie Cruz. Right: Quintenn Wesley (Port St. Lucie Police Department).
A Florida mother and her boyfriend are behind bars after her 2-year-old son got ahold of a gun while in bed and accidentally shot himself to death, authorities say.
The tragic incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 in Port St. Lucie. Police responded to a report of a boy shooting himself in the head and found him on a bed in a bedroom suffering from a gunshot wound. He had a “considerable amount of blood” around his head and was gasping for air, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
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First responders rushed the boy to the hospital, but lifesaving efforts failed and doctors pronounced him dead. Detectives learned five adults were at home at the time: 24-year-old Natalie Cruz, her 25-year-old fiancee, Quintenn Wesley, his sister, his father and his grandmother. There were also two children in the home, including an infant, cops said.
Cruz allegedly told investigators she was in the bed with the boy and another child. She was playing on her phone and eating when she heard a “loud bang” that left her ears ringing. She looked over and saw her young son bleeding. Cruz began to panic and a family member ran into the room to help, the affidavit said.
“She does not know where the firearm was but obviously it was on the bed because he reached it fast,” the family member reportedly told detectives.
Cruz also said Wesley had come home about 10 minutes before the shooting and claimed he put the gun on the back of a glass table next to the bed. She said he took the magazine out of the gun and the bullet out of the chamber, the affidavit states.
Also during the interview, Cruz acknowledged she is a felon and not allowed to possess firearms. She was convicted in 2018 of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
Wesley told cops he owned the gun in question, the affidavit states. He allegedly confirmed his girlfriend’s claim about how he had unloaded the gun a few minutes before the shooting. Wesley denied keeping an extra round in the chamber.
But detectives disproved that claim because police found a full magazine near the gun in question, the affidavit said. Cops also noted there were no safe places to keep the gun away from children. In addition, family members allegedly said there was a gun safe in the home that Wesley had access to but did not use. Investigators found the second gun under a couch in the bedroom, according to the affidavit.
By Feb. 20, Cruz and Wesley invoked their right to an attorney and declined to speak further with investigators. Police also received two anonymous tips that the couple were planning to flee the area in an attempt to avoid arrest, authorities said. Agents for the U.S. Marshals were surveilling the subjects in question and saw them “actively putting bags/packing the vehicle,” police said.
Cops took Cruz and Wesley into custody on Friday in the parking lot of a Dollar General in Port St. Lucie. Cruz is facing charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and culpable negligence while allowing a minor to access a firearm resulting in death. Wesley stands accused of the same culpable negligence charge as Cruz. She has a bond of $55,000 while he has a $15,000 bond. Both remained at the St. Lucie County Jail as of Tuesday morning.
