Boy, 4, fires gun at police officer during scuffle at McDonald's drive thru

Authorities were left in shock after a four-year-old boy shot at a police officer under his father's orders during an argument at a McDonald's drive-thru at 440 West 7200 South in Midvale, Utah on Monday.

The father, named Saadat Shamille Johnson, 27, reportedly lost it because of an incorrect order. There was a heated argument that prompted staff at the fast-food chain to call the police.

Officials from the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake told KUTV that the man started arguing with employees about his order around 1:30 p.m. During the dispute, he pulled out a gun at the workers. The police eventually came and tried to apprehend him.

However, Sheriff Rosie Rivers said that "as soon as he was pulled out of the vehicle and they started to take him into custody, one of the officers noticed a firearm coming out of the vehicle." The officer "was able to deflect it, but the firearm did go off."

Johnson had allegedly ordered his young son, who was in the car with him, to pull the trigger. The young boy was also accompanied by his three-year-old sister.

"This is a sad day for us because the person who pulled that trigger was 4 years old. Just think the gravity of that – a 4-year-old was told, we believe by the father, to pull the trigger and shoot a police officer. Thank God the officer was able to deflect," Rivers continued.

She added, "This is a child who thought it was ok to pull a firearm and shoot it at police. I've never seen anything like this in my 28 years of law enforcement."

Sgt. Melody Cutler on Tuesday also admitted that she "couldn't wrap her head around the incident. She said, "That a four-year-old even knows how to utilise a firearm and point it at an officer and pull the trigger is incredibly disturbing."

Thankfully, the officer who avoided the bullet only sustained a very minor injury. The bullet struck a building and was later dislodged as forensic evidence.

Johnson was taken into custody and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. He faces charges of child abuse, a third-degree felony, and threat or use of a weapon during a fight, a class-A misdemeanor. Meanwhile. the four-year-old boy and his sister are said to be in state custody.