Police: Louisiana man arrested after toddler shot in head while sleeping in apartment

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - A sleeping 3-year-old boy was shot in the head early Sunday when a bullet shot through the wall of an adjacent apartment in New Orleans, WVUE reports.

The child is hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said. New Orleans police arrested 22-year-old neighbor Javonte Shelton in connection with the shooting.

Authorities said Shelton was “dry firing his weapon” inside his apartment when he discharged a round through the wall, striking the sleeping boy in the adjacent apartment around 12:19 a.m. The shooting occurred in the 8500 block of the North I-10 Service Road, near Crowder Boulevard.

Records show Shelton was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail at 9:42 a.m. Sunday on single counts of second-degree battery and obstruction of justice.

Police say the child was taken for hospital treatment by New Orleans EMS personnel.