WAVERLY -- When Waverly police Sgt. Donnell Stewart looked down to see the blood-covered 6-month-old boy wrapped in a blanket, he knew something was very wrong.

And when Kimberly Gary, 18, told Stewart and Cpl. Don Reichhardt that her son had fallen, Stewart was skeptical.

On Sunday night, the officers responded to a call about a baby screaming. They arrived to find Jayden Gary bleeding from the neck. The infant was awake and turning blue.

"Not much movement, but he was crying," Stewart said.

It would take several hours before police determined that the child had been shot with a .22-caliber handgun that went off.

Police said James Michael Cyrus, 18, and a 17-year-old were playing with the gun. Investigators have not released the juvenile's name.

The bullet entered the child's face, came out of his neck and then lodged in his abdomen, Stewart said. "You can actually feel the bullet in his stomach."

The baby was in stable condition yesterday at VCU Medical Center. Stewart said doctors are waiting until his condition improves before removing the bullet.

At the scene, Stewart applied pressure to the wound.

"I think if I didn't apply pressure to the neck, that baby would have bled out right there," said Stewart, who is trained as an emergency-medical technician.

The officers immediately made plans to have the child taken by helicopter to Richmond. A rescue squad met the officers and transported the baby to meet the helicopter.

After turning the child over to the rescue squad, the officers started questioning Gary and the others more closely about what happened.

"They told me they didn't know what was going on," Stewart said.

Authorities said the gun used in the shooting was one of the weapons stolen in a string of robberies in Sussex and Surry counties. Officers recovered 10 guns, jewelry, a flat-screen television set and medication from the ceiling of the apartment, Stewart said.

Gary is charged with malicious wounding, felony child neglect, being an accessory after the fact, possession of stolen property, obstruction of justice, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Cyrus is charged with the same offenses except felony child neglect.

The 17-year-old, who police believe was the shooter, is charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in a felony, possession of stolen property, and obstruction of justice.

Investigators are trying to determine whether one of the teenagers is the baby's father.

At Waverly Village Apartments, where the incident occurred, resident John Jones said Gary had lived in her apartment a few weeks.

Reichhardt said the shooting "was a senseless act. It was a careless act, and it was a malicious act of violence."

Contact Jamie C. Ruff at (434) 392-6605 or jruff@timesdispatch.com.