A man shooting birds in suburban Utah with a .22-caliber air rifle is a person of interest for wounding a toddler in the head outside a day care center this week, authorities said Wednesday. The child is recovering in a Salt Lake City hospital.

The man is cooperating with investigators and won’t be named unless prosecutors decide to file charges against him, the Spanish Fork Police Department said. On Tuesday, they had called the shooting “a tragic accident” in a press release.

The 2-year-old boy was playing outside at Leap Ahead Daycare’s Spanish Fork facility when employees noticed him stumbling and bleeding from the head on Monday afternoon.

Although nobody heard shots fired, the suspected air gun pellet left a hole in the vinyl fence wrapping the day care’s outdoor play area, suggesting it came from farm fields across the street, Lane Mugleston, the day care’s owner, said Tuesday.

As news of the incident spread Tuesday, a GoFundMe fundraiser was set up to help the family. The creator, Shayla Dinger, is a co-worker of the boy’s mother.

“She will be out of work for a while and is going to be overwhelmed with medical bills and costs in general from missing work, all while trying to provide for her babies. I am creating this GoFundMe to help her raise funds to support her and her children while she is absent from work,” the page reads.

As of Wednesday evening, $350 had been donated. Dinger told the Daily Herald the family is aware and “very grateful” for the donations.

Employees called the child’s parents who took him to the hospital. Doctors found what looked like a bullet lodged in the child’s head and transported him to a larger Salt Lake City hospital.

Mugleston noted that, due to the day care’s location near an airport, it’s often hard to hear things. He said he was dumbfounded and surprised by the episode and had notified all clients of the day care.

The Daily Herald contributed to this story.

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