Crime & Safety

Camden Father Charged in 2-Year-Old Son's Shooting

Police say Sergio Rivera, 38, fired the weapon twice inside of a car in which the boy's mother and grandmother were also present. Rivera claims it was accidental.

A 38-year-old Camden man who allegedly shot his two-year-old son in front of their family was arrested on weapons and child endangerment charges by the Camden County Police Department on New Year's Eve.

Sergio Rivera said that the alleged shooting, which occurred inside a vehicle at 21st and Pierce Streets, was accidental, according to a press release provided by police.

Rivera reportedly drove the boy to Cooper University Hospital, where he was treated for gunshot wound to the left arm and left leg. Police claimed that Rivera "was uncooperative with police detectives investigating the shooting."

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A 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun was recovered from the vehicle, police said, "and Rivera was found to be in possession of several Percocet pills."

He was charged with possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, certain persons not to have weapons, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and possession of a controlled, dangerous substance. 

Rivera was remanded to the Camden County correctional facility on $185,000 cash-or-bond bail.

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“Regardless of whether the shooting was intentional or accidental, it’s the culture of violence and the illegal possessing of firearms that lies at the heart of our greatest challenge in reducing gun crime,” said Camden County Police Chief J. Scot Thomson in a statement.

All information provided by the Camden County Police Department. An arrest is not a conviction.


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