Phoenix-area couple charged with assault after 3 children find gun in bedroom
Mar 25, 2015, 12:59 PM | Updated: 1:00 pm
PHOENIX — A couple who lives in the Laveen area of Phoenix has been charged with assaulting their three children.
Police said the three children were playing in the master bedroom of their house in the area of 440 W. T. Ryan Lane last weekend when a handgun fell from a mattress. The 4-year-old daughter picked up the gun and pointed it, but the oldest sibling, a 9-year-old male, knocked the weapon from her hand. The youngest child, a 3-year-old boy, picked up the firearm and discharged a bullet inside the room. No one was wounded by the shot.
The father, 34-year-old Tyree Young, then entered the room and allegedly struck the oldest boy in the face and made him remove his shirt and his pants. Police said Young took an electrical cord and struck the 9-year-old repeatedly, causing extensive bruising and welts on the boy’s body.
The father then allegedly struck the other two children over their clothing with the same electrical cord, causing injuries to both of them, police said.
Later, when Young had fallen asleep in the home, the oldest son called his grandmother and told her what happened. The grandmother came to the home and took the 9-year-old boy to her residence in the area of 7400 S. 46th Street, according to police. Young and the children’s mother, 29-year-old Yvonne Orona, later arrived at the grandmother’s residence.
Orona had not been home at the time of the firearm incident and Young’s alleged assault on the children.
At the home on 46th Street, Orona grabbed the oldest boy by the hair and punched him in the face, police said. The grandmother attempted to call 911, but Orona allegedly grabbed the phone away and scratched under the elder woman’s eye.
The two parents were arrested Sunday afternoon after Phoenix police officers were called to the grandmother’s home.
Young was charged with a total of four counts of child abuse, while Orona is being charged with assault and unlawful imprisonment. The two could also face charges of endangerment and failure to protect the children, police said.
All three children received medical care for their injuries and were left in the custody of their grandmother.
