HERCULES — Two children under the age of 10, their mother, and her friend were OK following a violent child-custody exchange Tuesday that resulted in a gunshot, police said.
Police did not find anyone injured in the aftermath of the shooting, and they were unable to find the person who fired, Hercules police spokesperson Officer Connie Van Putten said. They are still looking for that suspect, and did not release any information about that person.
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It all happened about 2:30 p.m., when the 24-year-old mother and 24-year-old father met in a neutral location to exchange the children, Van Putten said. During the exchange, the father began arguing with the mother and a friend of hers who was at the scene, Van Putten said.
The argument between the three eventually turned physical, and Van Putten said the woman reported seeing the man pull out a pistol and heard him fire a shot. She said both children were present but uninjured.
Van Putten said the woman reported the incident to police by phone about two hours after it happened and later was interviewed along with her children at police headquarters.
“After it happened, she got her kids out of there, and took them home,” Van Putten said. “Not sure what her thoughts were, but about a couple hours or so after that event, she contacted us.”
Police aren’t revealing the location of the exchange, citing the investigation.
“We’re still trying to figure out who all the parties are,” Van Putten said. “We’ve gone out and checked the neighborhood pretty thoroughly and didn’t find anyone that was injured or the bullet.”
The man who fired the pistol was gone from the scene by the time police arrived there to investigate.
Van Putten said neutral locations can be a smart place for child-custody exchanges, and that many of them take place in the public eye.
Parents need to “try to keep your emotions under control,” Van Putten said. “For the children’s sake, make those exchanges as peaceful and as non-dramatic as you possibly can. If you stress that you’re doing it for the child’s sake and not the adult’s sake, there’s often a better a response or understanding.”
