Brother’s Gun Was Used in Shooting of O.C. Boy, 4 : Accident: The revolver was stolen in a Cypress robbery. Police arrest the teen-age sibling.

The .357 magnum revolver used by a 5-year-old who accidentally shot his little brother belonged to their teen-age brother and was stolen in a Cypress home invasion robbery three months ago, police said Friday.

As Charles Dolan, 4, clung to life Friday afternoon with a bullet hole in his chest, detectives arrested his 17-year-old brother outside the intensive care unit of UCI Medical Center in Orange on suspicion of possessing the stolen gun fired in Thursday’s shooting.

Garden Grove Sgt. Mark Byrne said the youth--a Vietnamese gang member--also was booked on charges of felony child endangerment because he left his little brothers alone in the family’s Lori Lane home, where the boys found the loaded pistol on a bedroom floor.

The teen-ager, whose name was not disclosed because he is a juvenile, returned to the house about 10:30 a.m. Thursday and found his little brothers in the living room. Charles was bleeding profusely and his identical twin cried hysterically.

In an interview Friday an hour before his arrest, the leather-jacketed teen-ager, a high school dropout with greased dark hair and a cast on his right arm, boasted, “I’m a major player in this.”

Before heading to the hospital to relieve his parents at Charles’ bedside, he talked on the family’s front porch about his wounded little brother but said he would have “no comment” on the shooting itself before checking with his parents.

Byrne said the weapon in question was seized by three teen-agers who terrorized a Cypress family of seven for two hours Feb. 22. According to police, the masked intruders threatened their victims with guns and a meat cleaver before fleeing with jewelry, guns and cash. No one was injured.

Byrne said Cypress police are investigating whether the 17-year-old brother participated in the home invasion, a type of violent robbery in which Asian gang members storm into the occupied homes of other Asians and ransack the residence for valuables. A rash of such crimes has been reported in the Southland, two of which have been in Cypress.

According to authorities, Long Beach police have been investigating a series of home invasions with suspects and circumstances similar to the February raid in Cypress.

Alone in the house Thursday morning, the boys were playing cops and robbers in their big brother’s bedroom. Charles was holding a toy gun. The 5-year-old told police he fetched the .357 magnum from the floor beside his older brother’s bed, and opened it up to find two bullets inside, Byrne said. The child closed the gun’s cylinder, and the pair continued to aim the weapons at each other until Charles was shot.

“It’s hard for a 5-year-old to see it’s real,” Byrne said, adding that the case has been difficult for investigators. “We’re not going to arrest a 5-year-old for attempted murder.”

Charles was felled by a single bullet. His brother then dragged him into the living room, where they were found later that morning. It is unclear when the shooting occurred, but the 17-year-old brother returned home about 10:30 a.m., and his girlfriend frantically summoned paramedics.

As she hysterically talked to a dispatcher during a 10-minute call on the 911 emergency line, Charles continued to bleed and turn pale, according to a transcript of the conversation. Over the screams of the 17-year-old brother, the dispatcher instructed them to apply pressure to the wound with a towel.

The boy eventually was rushed to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he underwent two surgeries Thursday night and remained in critical condition Friday. His parents have remained by his side throughout the ordeal.

“He’s OK. It’s a shock,” the boy’s mother said Friday night. She declined to comment further or give her name.

Fourteen people share the white-and-blue single-story home where the shooting occurred--Charles’ parents, two cousins and 10 children ages 4 through 20, including the arrested teen-ager, the eldest son.

He and his 15-year-old brother, just released from a juvenile detention facility Thursday, said all of the children belong to their mother. Her husband, Gary Dolan, is the father of the four youngest children. Three people, who are friends of the family, live in the home’s garage.

The Dolans moved from a Garden Grove condominium into the cul-de-sac home about five years ago.

It is unclear where the mother was at the time of the shooting, but Gary Dolan was working at a nearby restaurant he either owns or manages, family members said.

Standing outside a living room filled with leather furniture and bookshelves with a Buddha figurine, the teen-age boys spoke on the condition that their names not be used.

The 15-year-old said he learned of the accident from his mother, who picked him up and drove tearfully to the hospital. Charles was “just a normal kid for a 4- or 5-year-old,” he said. “He liked to mess around a lot and run around.”

The teen-ager who was later arrested said his wounded brother is “a crazy kid--he runs around. He makes a mess. He takes noodles and breaks them and throws them on the floor. . . . He’s OK, but he’s gonna be there (at the hospital) a few weeks.”

He said his relatives, who are taking shifts at Charles’ hospital bed, have recovered from “the initial shock . . . but they haven’t calmed down.”

An hour later, about 3:30 p.m. Friday, the 17-year-old was handcuffed and taken to Orange County Juvenile Hall, where he will remain in custody for the weekend. A court hearing is tentatively set for Monday to decide whether he should be charged or released.

Times staff writers Davan Maharaj and Carla Rivera contributed to this report.