CROWLEY, La. (KLFY) — Police in Crowley, Louisiana, responded to an overdose investigation Saturday and ended up wrestling an assault rifle from the hands of a 10-year-old child.
When officers arrived at a Dairy Queen parking lot, they found a man sitting in the drivers seat of a vehicle overdosing.
His wife, who was in the passenger seat, told police there was cocaine and fentanyl in the cup holder.
In the backseat, officers found two handguns on the floor and a 10-year-old boy holding a loaded and live AK-47 rifle next to his three brothers and sisters, who were all under the age of 12.
“When the officers opened the back seat, the four children are sitting there with the boy having the gun on his lap,” Crowley Police Chief Jimmy Broussard said.
Chief Broussard said the AK-47 was loaded, and the safety was off.
“The child, of course, didn’t want to give it up, to probably either protect his family or didn’t know exactly what was going on. I mean it’s a very scary situation for a child, and officers spoke with him calmly and tried to gain his trust and everything. Of course, it wasn’t a huge struggle, but he was still not letting it go freely,” Chief Broussard said.
Eventually, the officers were able to coax the rifle away from the 10-year-old boy.
“It was loaded. It was not on safety. So if anything, if the child would have panicked and decided to pull that trigger, it would have been much worse of a scene than what we had,” he said.
The children’s father was administered Narcan during his overdose. He is now in stable condition. Police say child services are being called to take custody of the children.