2-year-old in daycare hit in head by stray bullet: cops

A 2-year-old child was struck in the head by an apparent stray bullet Monday at a Utah day care center, authorities said.

The child was taken to Primary Children’s Hospital and was in stable condition and improving as of Wednesday afternoon.

The incident occurred in Spanish Fork, around 50 miles south of Salt Lake City.

A man who was shooting birds in the area west of the daycare center with a .22 caliber air rifle has been identified as a person of interest, Spanish Fork police said Wednesday in a news release.

The man is cooperating with investigators amid the ongoing probe.

He will not be identified unless he’s formally charged, police said.

Detectives determined that children were playing in a vinyl fenced area staffed by two adults when the child was seen stumbling and bleeding from their face.

Spanish Fork Police were contacted by Springville Police after the child was at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center with a small caliber bullet wound to their head. Springville Police were first contacted by the hospital before it was determined that the incident occurred in Spanish Fork.

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The daycare center notified the child’s parents and they took their child to the hospital for treatment.

Doctors discovered through scans that the child had a small caliber bullet lodged in their head.

“Detectives are continuing to investigate where the bullet may have been shot from and why,” police said in a news release earlier this week, before identifying the person of interest.

“It appears this was a tragic accident.”