5-year old Texas boy nearly killed by stray bullet from gun range

A mother in Nevada, Texas, had just strapped in her 5-year old son, Parkin Jones, and was backing out the car when a bullet shattered the back window.  Glass injured her son, but the bullet narrowly missed him. 

The bullet had been fired by a gun range, located only 100 yards away.

From an article and news article:

“It was a loud pop,” she recalled. “I had turned around thinking my tire had popped – one of the kids had maybe left a toy under my car. I put the car in park and got out and was like, ‘Oh my God!’” 

Her son, Parkin, was covered in glass and screaming, but apparently unhurt.
“I’m like, ‘There is a bullet in my car!’” she said. 

A stray bullet blew out the back window, inches from where she just strapped in her little boy.
Jones said it came from her neighbor, the Armadillo Gun Range, which is about 100 yards to the east in the 14000 block of County Road 489. 

The line of fire at the range is in her direction, though rounds usually penetrate a large dirt berm. 

“This is one bullet hole right here,” Jones said while pointing to the fractured siding on her house. 

She showed News 8 four bullet holes scattered on the side of her home facing the range. 

Over the summer, Jones said the range owners took action by adding dirt and building the berm even higher to prevent stray bullets from flying over. But after the incident on Thursday, her relatives say Collin County deputies told them there doesn’t appear to be any criminal intent, so this is likely a civil matter. 

“He said they can’t shut them down unless someone ended up passing away over it or gets killed,” said Dylan Edwards, Jones’ brother. 

“As a mother, it’s unbearable to think about,” Krisha said. “I cried, and I cried, and I cried and I held him. This is dangerous. To every family around here, this is dangerous.” 

An employee of the gun range asked us to leave the property Thursday afternoon and the owners did not immediately return a phone call left by News 8. 

No licensing agency regulates gun ranges in Texas, but the Collin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. The Collin County Fire Marshal said the business has a proper Certificate of Occupancy.

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