Father charged with negligence in shooting case

Sarasota County deputies have charged the father of the 3-year-old boy who shot his 1-year-old sister outside a Venice church earlier this month with culpable negligence, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

Reynold Franzen, a 35-year-old Venice resident, turned himself in last night and was released from the Sarasota County jail on a $1,500 bond.

According to a probable cause affadavit, Rachel Franzen, Reynold Franzen's wife, picked up the couple's two children from First Church of God May 15, and began talking to witness Nelson Perry after buckling her daughter into a car seat began. After hearing a loud bang, Franzen noticed her daughter's face was bleeding and another witness discovered her son holding a .380 caliber handgun.

Emergency personnel transported the injured girl to All Children's Hospital, where she was treated and released four days later. The Sheriff's Office allowed the parents time to tend to their family before a follow-up interview last week, during which both Reynold and Rachel Franzen said they did not have knowledge there was a loaded gun in the car before the incident.

But, during a another interview yesterday, Reynold Franzen told investigators he had stored the Kel-Tec P-3AT semi-automatic pistol in his glove compartment while shopping five days prior to the shooting, and had forgotton it was in the vehicle.