Police said the 5-year-old was expected to survive after the Sunday night shooting.
OAKLEY, Calif. — A 5-year-old boy was shot in the torso Sunday night after his father accidentally fired an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle while cleaning firearms at their Oakley home, police said, sending the child by helicopter to a hospital for emergency treatment.
The shooting drew a fast police and medical response and left investigators sorting through what Oakley’s police chief called an awful accident marked by serious negligence. The boy underwent surgery and was expected to recover, according to local reports Monday. Detectives said they do not believe the shooting was intentional, but they are continuing their investigation and plan to send their findings to the Contra Costa County District Attorney for review.
Oakley police said officers were dispatched at about 9:25 p.m. Sunday to the 1700 block of Hemlock Court after an initial report that a man had shot himself while cleaning guns. While officers were on the way, the call was updated to say a child had been shot instead. When officers arrived, police said, the boy’s father was holding him and applying pressure to the wound. The child was taken from the scene by ambulance and later flown to a hospital. Police Chief Paul Beard said Monday that the child suffered what he described as a grazing wound, but he added that even a graze from a rifle round can cause severe harm.
According to police, the father told detectives he had been cleaning firearms when he removed an AR-15-style rifle from a gun case and accidentally pulled the trigger. The rifle discharged and the bullet struck his son at close range in the torso, investigators said. The father told police he believed the gun was empty. Detectives searched the home and seized the firearms there, though authorities did not say how many weapons were removed. Police have not publicly identified the father or the child, and investigators have not said exactly where inside the home the boy was standing when the gun fired.
Video from the scene showed paramedics moving the child into an ambulance, while evidence markers could be seen scattered across the floor of a garage area at the property. A woman was also seen being escorted by emergency crews toward a helicopter. Authorities have not publicly described her condition or role beyond her presence at the scene. The home is in a residential part of Oakley near W. Cypress Road and Empire Avenue. By Monday morning, the police perimeter had been cleared, but the case remained active as detectives worked to document the sequence of events and preserve evidence from inside the home.
Beard said the department does not believe there was ill intent, but he stressed that the case still points to major failures in firearm handling. He said guns should always be treated as loaded and should not be handled with a finger on the trigger unless there is an intent to fire. That comment underscored the central issue in the investigation: whether the circumstances amount to criminal negligence, even without evidence of a deliberate act. Once detectives complete their reports, the case will be forwarded to prosecutors, who will decide whether any charges are warranted under California law.
Neighbors said they knew little about the family. Will McNally, who lives nearby, told KTVU the family had moved in only a few months earlier and mostly kept to themselves. “They seem like really quiet people,” he said. That sense of routine was shattered late Sunday as emergency vehicles filled the street and officers worked under bright lights outside the home. The scene left residents confronting a violent accident in an otherwise ordinary neighborhood, with the child’s narrow survival becoming the story’s clearest point of relief.
The boy was expected to survive as of Monday, and Oakley police said detectives will submit the case to the district attorney after completing their investigation.
Author note: Last updated March 31, 2026.