Parents face charges after 4-year-old twins shot with gun left under couch

A Florida couple were arrested over the weekend and now face charges after their four-year-old twin sons were found with gunshot injuries allegedly from a firearm the boys discovered underneath a couch cushion inside their home, according to police.

The children were taken to a hospital in Orlando in critical but stable condition, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department told Global News in a statement.

At about 2 p.m. on Saturday, deputies responded to a report of two four-year-old boys with gunshot wounds who had been taken to the hospital by their parents.

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Preliminary information indicated that the incident occurred at the family’s home, investigators said. Both parents were arrested.

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Keishara B. Goodrum, 39, was “arrested on two counts of child neglect with great bodily harm,” police said. “Detectives have also added two counts of storing or leaving a loaded firearm where children could get access,” a spokesperson told Global News.

Maurice Wayne Bright Jr., 40, was arrested “for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.”

According to the arrest affidavit, obtained by Global News from local police, both parents told police they did not witness the incident, but said they heard a loud “pop” — that Goodrum later described as a firearm being shot — from inside their home.

Goodrum, who told detectives she was in the kitchen when she heard the “pop,” said she noticed a wound under one of the boy’s arms. Bright, who was in the home’s yard at the time, said he ran inside and also noticed a wound on the child’s body.

The parents placed the two boys in their car and began driving to the hospital. Once in the vehicle, they told police they noticed the second child complaining of pain and saw a large amount of blood on his shirt, which led them to conclude that he was also injured, the affidavit states.

Hospital staff confirmed to police that both children had sustained gunshot wounds.

Goodrum told police she had been drinking heavily at her home the night before the incident and during that time had grabbed her handgun and sat on her living room couch.

She recalled not wearing clothing with a waistband, so said in the affidavit that she placed the gun under a couch cushion.

On Saturday morning, Goodrum went to Walmart to buy groceries for breakfast. Before heading back to her house, she stopped at a gas station to purchase alcohol, according to the legal filing.

When she arrived home, she began making breakfast for herself and her five children, including the twins, who were playing in the living room with her other children. Bright was on the back porch preparing a meal on a grill.

While speaking with the police, Goodrum suggested that the four-year-old twins allegedly accessed the gun from where it was unsecured under the couch cushion.

According to the affidavit, police determined through investigative measures that “neglect of two children with great bodily harm had occurred by the mother of the children.”