Man arrested after 'leaving his five-year-old granddaughter in Arizona desert with gun while he went to get cheeseburger'

Arrested: Paul Rater
EPA
Rachel Blundy3 November 2015

A man has been arrested for child abuse after he allegedly left his five-year-old granddaughter in an Arizona desert with a gun while he went to get a cheeseburger.

Paul Armand Rater, 53, left the girl holding the .45-calibre handgun and told her to "shoot any bad guys" if they approached, it is claimed.

The girl's mother and an off-duty firefighter found her holding the powerful pistol about four hours after she went missing on Sunday afternoon.

Rater is reported to have driven her from her home in the city of Buckeye to the desert in his pickup truck.

When police eventually arrested him at a nearby store, he told them his truck had broken down and that he had left the girl under a tree in the desert because she was complaining she could not walk anymore, according to court records.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told Reuters: "She was given the gun and told to shoot any bad guys.

""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."

Rater admitted leaving the girl with his gun, "while he went for a few drinks and a cheeseburger," the sheriff's office said.

He could now face charges of child abuse and child endangerment.

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