Boy, 3, Shoots Both Parents With Single Bullet

The three-year-old boy accidentally fired the handgun in a New Mexico motel room, wounding his heavily pregnant mother in the arm.

A three-year-old has wounded both of his parents after firing a single bullet from a gun he found in his mother's handbag.

The young boy, from New Mexico, was looking for an iPod when he came across the loaded weapon.

His father was struck in the buttock. The bullet exited through his hip and hit the woman, who was eight months pregnant, in the arm.

The accidental shooting took place in an Albuquerque motel room where the family were living.

The father, Justin Reynolds, said he and his pregnant girlfriend Monique Villescas were preparing to order pizza when the weapon was fired.

A 9mm handgun was found by investigators inside the motel room

"All of a sudden we heard a gun go off and the next minute I realised my girlfriend was bleeding," he told local station KOB.

"Then I sat down and realised I was shot too."

He was released from hospital on Saturday afternoon, while Ms Villescas was in a stable condition.

A two-year-old girl who was also in the room was not harmed. 

A 9mm handgun was found by investigators inside the room at America's Best Value Inn.

Following the incident, social workers took custody of the children for 48 hours.

"If you are going to be a gun owner, you need to lock it up and keep it safe, especially around children," a police spokesman said.

He told the Albuquerque Journal the parents would be charged with felony criminal negligence.