Parents Staged Drive-By Shooting To Hide Their Role In Toddler's Shooting: Police

Police have charged a couple from Lawndale, North Carolina, for allegedly shooting their 2-year-old child and then staging a drive-by to cover up their involvement.

Lucentio Clark and Tianna Lashae Jumper were arrested Tuesday night, WSOC TV reported. Clark has been charged with child abuse or neglect with serious bodily injury, along with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Jumper has been charged with obstruction of justice.

The shooting happened on May 9 at the couple's home in Lawndale. Jumper called 911 to say that her son, Raquez Clark, had suffered a gunshot wound in a drive-by shooting.

"Someone shot into the house, and [inaudible] my son got hit," Jumper told the dispatcher. "My son's been shot! He's two years old!"

The child, who was shot in the abdomen, was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery. He was then flown to a hospital in Charlotte.

However, officers, who inspected the scene, found the narrative didn't quite add up. The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office had said the case was "fluid and changing rapidly as the investigation was still in its earliest stages."

In a Facebook post (now unavailable) put up Wednesday, the sheriff's office said the evidence collected from the scene revealed the fact that the shot was fired from inside the home.

Officers said the parents made up the story and shot into the house to make it look like a drive-by shooting, reported WCNC.

The couple told a court Wednesday that they were not guilty and were asleep when the shooting happened. Clark and Jumper were with their son in the hospital when they were arrested.

The deputies have not revealed how the child was shot or who pulled the trigger. The arrest warrant just mentioned that the couple "allowed their two-year-old son to be in a position to be shot."

The child is still recovering from his injuries in the hospital. The Department of Social Services is also arranging for his care and well-being.

"He is going to be scarred for life and the members of the sheriff's office, we just ask that the public keep this child in their prayers," Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman told WSOC TV.