Police are investigating after a 5-year-old girl was left alone with a loaded gun in the Arizona desert.
Now, the girl’s grandfather is facing serious charges after police said he deserted her while he went to get a drink at a bar.
The Arizona desert is an unforgiving landscape where the heat and wild animals often get the best of even the healthiest of hikers.
A firefighter found the young girl crying for help in a dried-out creek after her parents had reported her missing.
She told the firefighter that her “Papa,” Paul Raider, had left her.
The sheriff said Raider took the girl for a ride and then left her by a bush with a handgun, which he told her was to “shoot the bad guys.”
After leaving the girl on the side of the road, he walked 10 miles to a bar.
Employees told the deputies he ordered several drinks, a meal and even called his wife for a ride.
The girl was not hurt.
Raider told police he left her there as he went to get help because his car broke down and she said she could not walk any further.
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