Phoenix: An Arizona grandfather was arrested on Monday for leaving his five year old grand daughter alone in the desert with a loaded and cocked .45-caliber handgun and the instruction to 'shoot any bad guys'.
Police said Paul Armand Rater—the accused and the child left their home in Buckeye, about 30 miles (48 km) west of Phoenix, in a pickup truck early on Sunday afternoon and that the girl was reported missing four hours later.
A helicopter was dispatched to find the girl, who was believed to be in Rainbow Valley, about 12 miles from Buckeye. The search was called off after her family said
she was found safe with a loaded .45-caliber handgun with the hammer cocked.
Rater was later found by deputies at a local feed store with a bar. He admitted to leaving the girl alone in the desert with the gun while he went for a few drinks and a cheeseburger.
53 year old Paul was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix on suspicion of two counts of felony child abuse and one count of felony child endangerment stemming from incident on Sunday night.
She was given the gun and told to shoot any bad guys," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "I don't know how a five-year-old can tell a good guy from a bad guy, but that's what she said she was told."
The little girl later told her grandmother, 'I don't know why papa left me.
'I was calling out for him. He took me by some bushes, gave me a gun and left me,' the little girl said.
