A 3-year-old boy continues recovering after he was shot in the arm at a Phoenix apartment, according to records.

In addition, Phoenix police report Christopher Vanaller, 26, is in custody in connection with the incident, facing felony charges of aggravated assault, child abuse, prohibited possession and witness tampering.

Police had been looking for Mr. Vanaller since a shooting occurred around 7 a.m. Feb. 16 near 35th and Dunlap avenues.

Around 10 a.m. that day, Phoenix police said a woman had brought her 3-year-old son into the emergency room of a local hospital with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. The child was in critical condition.

“It is believed this may have been some sort of an accident, but Phoenix Police Officers are at an apartment complex in the area of 3500 W. Dunlap Avenue, trying to determine what exactly happened,” police stated in an email.

Records released Monday morning indicate the child’s mother told police she and Mr. Vanaller had been drinking the night before and went to sleep in her bedroom.

Around 6:30 a.m. Feb 16, someone arrived at the apartment and knocked on a window. The child’s mother got up and let him and a friend inside to drink beer, records state.

However, Mr. Vanaller continued to sleep. The boy had been walking around the apartment with his mother when she gave him her cell phone and told him to go into her room.

About 20 minutes later, the occupants heard a loud bang from the master bedroom. The mother and her friend went in and saw her son lying on the bed crying and holding his arm. The two drove the boy to the hospital.

Later in the day, police said the child was in stable but critical condition. Police were also in the middle of ironing out some inconsistencies from information they had received, an email states.

On the afternoon of Feb. 17, police released a picture of Christopher Vanaller to the media, listing him as a person of interest as they believed he was present when the shooting occurred.

According to records, Mr. Vanaller was upset at what happened and said he was not supposed to have a firearm. He apologized to the mother and said her son must have grabbed his pistol. He told the mother not to call 911 and then left.

In a series of text messages, Mr. Vanaller continually apologizes to the mother and tells her not to mention his name. Instead, he tells her to come up with a random name of someone she met at a park or a bar.

“If you tell them my name I will go to prison for a long time babe,” Mr. Vanaller states in a text.

Police had no luck in finding Mr. Vanaller at his apartment.

The last updates police gave to the media and public was Feb. 18, when an email stated the boy’s condition was improving. They were still trying to contact Mr. Vanaller.

Nearly a week after the shooting, he is in custody. While not announced, it appears Mr. Vanaller was arrested Friday evening at a different apartment complex near where the shooting happened. He was booked into jail Saturday in lieu of a $50,000 bond.

The Daily News-Sun contacted Phoenix police Monday morning about how Mr. Vanaller was found.

“The PIO assigned to this case is unavailable until later this week,” Sgt. Vincent Lewis stated in an email. “Please use court documents as your source.”

Mr. Vanaller’s next court appearances are Friday and Tuesday, March 5.