MIRAMAR, Fla. -- A 4-year-old boy is recovering from serious burns after he was shot in the leg with a flare gun. It happened around 7 p.m. Friday at the New Park Towers on Sherman Circle. The little boy was shot by a teenager who lives in the same complex.

“I seen him walking through here with it and when he saw me he put it in his waist”, said C.J. Veras, the victim's cousin.

Veras said he initially thought the teenage suspect was toting a real gun in the courtyard of the complex while he was watching his little cousin Brandon ride his bike on the sidewalk between the two buildings.

For some reason, Veras said, the suspect began walking behind the child as he pedaled but when the little boy turned to go back the other way, he says the kid reached for the flare gun.

“My little cousin was trying to get away from him, so when he pulled the gun out it went off by accident and shot him in the leg”, Veras said.

"Why did he pull the gun out ?" asked Local 10's Roger Lohse.

"I don’t even know”, said Veras.

The flare burned a big hole in the back of his cousin’s leg. The suspect got nervous and ran away, Veras said, but detectives found him in the next building over.

Police won’t say how the teen got his hands on the flare gun or to whom it belongs. Officers are still trying to sort out the circumstances. Nobody has been arrested.

The child was taken to Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood with non-life threatening injuries.