4-year-old fired gun at officers by order of his father who was being arrested, Utah police say

Utah police said they were fired upon by a 4-year-old on the order of his father who at the time was being arrested over a botched food order at a McDonald's drive-thru.

"You know this is a sad day for us, because the person that pulled that trigger was four years old. Just think the gravity of that," said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera to KUTV-TV.

The startling incident unfolded at the fast food restaurant in Midvale, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Monday.

Investigators say the man tried to order food at the drive-thru and brandished a gun at employees while demanding they fix his order. They asked him to pull up to a waiting area and then called the police, said Unified Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Melody Cutler.

When police arrived, the man allegedly refused to get out of the car and then got into an altercation with officers, and that's when police said a shot was fired from the passenger seat of the car.

"A four year old was told, we believe by the father, to pull the trigger and shoot a police officer," said Rivera. "Thank God the officer was able to deflect."

Cutler said one officer was able to swipe the gun away as the toddler fired and he yelled "kid! kid! kid!" to the other officers. That officer was burned by the gunfire on his arm.

She said that a witness saw the man tell the 4-year-old to shoot the gun, even as he was sitting next to his 3-year-old sister at the time.

The man was arrested and the children were taken into custody of their family.

“To have an adult think it is OK to encourage a four-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten,” concluded Rivera.

Here's a local news report about the incident:

4-year-old fires gun at officers during Midvale shooting incidentwww.youtube.com