3 year old Texas toddler allegedly shot by 8 year old

Another toddler has been allegedly shot by a child with a loaded gun at a Texas home:

A 3-year-old Navarro County boy was shot to death Monday and authorities say an 8-year-old may have fired the deadly blast from a 20-gauge shotgun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

14 year old Texas boy wounded in accidental shooting

Another "accidental" or unintentional shooting has critically wounded a 14 year old Texas boy. The media first reported that the teen had died but he is allegedly wounded. From an article:

Several men were at a home at 3028 Hanger Avenue when a 24-year-old man pulled out a handgun. According to the man, he was unaware that the gun was loaded and shot the victim in the head, just above his left eye.

5 year old Texas boy shoots and kills himself

A 5 year old Texas boy has died of gunshot injuries after finding a gun in his home and shooting himself. From an article:

A 5-year-old boy was found killed by a single-shot wound to the head in Vidor at approximately 2:45 p.m. Monday.

According to Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, they received a call to the at approximately 2:45 p.m. on a call of an unresponsive child on Scott Drive in North Vidor.

Investigators say the shooting happened in the 1200 block of Roberts Road. The child was being watched by a babysitter at his parent's home when the shooting occurred.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Bail reduced for man who shot 3 year old Texas boy in the face

Back in September we wrote about a man who shot a 3 year old Texas boy in the face for no reason at all. ( September 3, 2013). Now a judge is reducing the bail for this heinous crime. From an article:

A judge reduced the bail Friday for a Dallas man accused of shooting an 8-year-old boy in the face last month.

Brian Cloninger, 46, has remained in the Dallas County jail since he was arrested Sept. 3 after police say he shot Donald Maiden Jr. in the face. District Judge Larry Mitchell lowered the bail from $2.2 million to $1 million after Cloninger’s attorney asked that the amount be reduced to $25,000.

Investigators believe Cloninger had been drinking before he shot Maiden at the boy’s Lake Highlands apartment complex, Prosecutor Tammy Kemp said at the hearing Friday.

At the time of the shooting, Cloninger was still serving a 15-month probationary sentence for a 2012 DWI in Travis County. He was charged in 2002 with driving under the influence in Palm Beach.

Cloninger was not allowed to consume alcohol while on probation, prosecutors said. Police found a beer can in his truck after the shooting.

Police said Maiden was outside his Lake Highlands apartment complex looking for his bike when Cloninger shot him. Maiden recently returned home after a month-long hospital stay.

Every day since returning home, Maiden asks his mother, Monique Locklin, to call to make sure Cloninger is still behind bars, Locklin said.

“He’s afraid,” she said. “And he doesn’t do well around people he’s not familiar with.”

Police said no witnesses saw the shooting, but several apartment residents told police they heard the shot. One witness approached Cloninger after the shooting to ask if he had shot the boy, Det. Paolo Sparacino said at the hearing.

Little boys should be able to play outside without being shot in the face for no reason.

3 small children killed in Waco, Texas in murder/suicide

Three small children, all members of the same family, were shot and killed in a murder/suicide in Waco, Texas. From an article:

Navarro County officials said Monday they are investigating the shooting deaths of a man, his wife and their three children as a murder-suicide.

The bodies of the five family members were discovered Sunday night by a grandfather, who had been trying to reach the family by phone at their home near Rice, just north of Corsicana.

Navarro County Sheriff Elmer Tanner identified the adults as Israel Alvarez, 33, and Guadalupe Ronquillo-Ovalle, 33.

The children were ages 10, 8 and 4, he said.

A .22-caliber rifle was recovered at the home. All five victims have “gunshot wounds to the upper torso,” Tanner said.

3 year old Texas boy accidentally shoots himself

A 3 year old found a loaded gun on the kitchen table in his home and shot himself in the chest. From an article:

A Horseshoe Bay boy is in critical condition after he accidentally shot himself in the chest Thursday, Horseshoe Bay Police said.

He was transported by ambulance to Dell Children's Hospital where he had his right lung removed. HSBPD say the 3-year-old boy's parents and a neighbor drove him to meet the ambulance on Thanksgiving Mountain.

Police went back to the victim's home with his parents where they found a loaded handgun on the kitchen table. The parents told police their son picked up the gun and it went off. They declined investigators' initial attempt to search the home.

After obtaining a search warrant, investigators learned the handgun they found was not the weapon involved in the shooting. They also uncovered more conflicting information.

One account said the victim's father hid the weapon in brush away from his house, but a search of the area didn't yield any results.

The suspected weapon was later found in a neighbor's home. Police say they found three handguns and a rifle that were taken there after the shooting.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

8 year old Texas boy shot for no reason

An 8 year old Texas boy, playing in his apartment was shot by a man in a truck for no apparent reason:

The parents of an 8-year-old Dallas boy shot in the face Tuesday night say he is improving, even though he still needs a breathing tube and remains listed in critical but stable condition. Donald Maiden, Jr., called DJ by family and friends, was shot while playing at this Lake Highlands apartment complex. On Thursday, his parents spoke exclusively to CBS 11 News.

“When he ran in I just screamed,” said Latamarin Locklin, DJ’s mother, recalling how the boy looked as he ran home after the shooting. “His mouth was just hanging off and it was just a big hole,” she said. Locklin remembers a neighbor urging her to put pressure on her son’s mouth. “ I just threw him on the couch and laid him in my arms and put pressure on his mouth with the towel.”

“When I first saw him in ICU I started crying,” Donald Maiden, Sr. said of his son. DJ’s father was working in Louisiana. The boy was in a medically-induced coma when Dad first saw him. “I just put my head down in his bed and was holding his hand at the same time. And he opened his eyes. And when I raised back up I looked and there were tears rolling down his eyes and it gave me a little bit of spirit in my heart. It was joy, I guess he was kind of happy to know I was there. “

DJ was shot “out of the blue,” according to his mom, by a man driving a pickup truck who’d been hanging around her apartment complex.

Police arrested Brian Cloninger and are holding him on a $2.2 million dollar bond. Locklin says investigators are very helpful, but there’s still one huge unanswered question. “I just want to know why. Why?”

Children should be able to play in their homes without fear of being shot.

3 year old Texas boy wounded by a drive-by shooting

A 3 year old toddler was wounded in a drive by shooting in Texas:

A three-year-old boy was wounded in a drive-by shooting early Tuesday morning at his home in northwest Harris County.

The shooting happened just before 1 a.m. in the 20500 block of Cypress Gully near Cypress Prairie, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. According to investigators, the boy was walking inside a home when witnesses said they heard two gunshots. One of the bullets hit the boy.

The child's baby-sitter and another person were in the home at the time of the shooting, but they were not injured.

Deputies said the child, whose name has not been released, was flown by LifeFlight medical helicopter to Memorial Hermann-The Texas Medical Center. Details of his wound and condition were not released Tuesday morning.

Police are searching for a white Dodge Charger that may have been involved in the shooting. The car was seen speeding from the area after the shooting. No other descriptions were released.

Children should be able to be at home without being shot by stray bullets.

9 year old Texas boy accidentally shot and killed by 13 year old friend

In Texas, a grandfather is thinking about what happened when his 9 year old grandson was shot and killed by a 13 year old friend. From an article:

The grandfather of a 9-year-old boy killed in an accidental shooting has been released from jail.

A Clay County Jail dispatcher said Sunday that 56-year-old Danny Eugene Bowman was no longer there.

The Wichita Falls Times Record (http://bit.ly/11FixDo ) reports Bowman was arrested Friday on a child endangerment charge. That came shortly after grandson Daniel Wiley was killed by a shotgun blast to the face in rural Clay County.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the newspaper, Bowman told deputies he left Daniel and a 13-year-old grandson alone with a disabled, 76-year-old great-grandmother while he drove to get beer. He told them the weapon is always loaded and unsecured.

The older grandson told deputies the gun discharged when he handed it to Daniel.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Texas Mom shoots 10 and 12 year old children and herself

A Texas mother, upset over not qualifying for Food Stamps, shot her 2 children and herself in a welfare office:

A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and held a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said Tuesday.

The 10-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl remained in critical condition Tuesday. Authorities identified the mother as Rachelle Grimmer, 38, and children Ramie and Timothy.

Texas woman, unhappy about denial of food stamps, shoots her kids and then herself

Timothy and Ramie Grimmer, ages 10 and 12

A woman in San Antonio, Texas, went to the state welfare office with her two children, unhappy about being denied food stamps.  The woman, Rachelle Grimmer, 38, then pulled out a gun and a standoff occurred.  It ended when she shot her two children, a girl named Ramie, age 12, and a boy named Timothy, age 10, critically injuring them, then killing herself.

From an article:

When the family entered the office on Monday shortly before it closed, Grimmer asked to speak to a new caseworker, and not the one whom she worked with before, Texas Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. 

Grimmer was taken to a private room to discuss her case, then she revealed a gun and the standoff began, Goodman said. 

Police negotiators stayed on the phone with Grimmer throughout the evening, but she kept hanging up, Laredo police investigator Joe Baeza said. She allegedly told negotiators about a litany of complaints against state and federal government agencies. 

Grimmer let a supervisor go unharmed around 7:45 but stayed inside the office with her children. After hanging up the phone around 11:45, police heard three shots, and a riot police team entered the building. Inside, they found Grimmer's body and her two wounded children. 

The children were "very critical" and unconscious, Baeza said.

.

Texas 13 year old shot accidentally by her brother

A Texas teen was cleaning his AK-47 and when it discharged accidentally, the bullet killed his 13 year old sister:

Another tragic accidental shooting, this one in Texas: Emilee Bates was accidentally killed by her step-brother on her 13th birthday Tuesday. Police say Austin McCord, 19, was clearing his AK-47 at the time. He ejected two dummy rounds that were above the loaded magazine, then pulled the trigger in what he believed was a safe move, NBC 5 reports. The sheriff explains that "once you've emptied the weapon, it's always safer to get the pressure off of the trigger, and that's what he thought he was doing." But McCord forgot about the loaded magazine, and the gun went off, shooting Emilee in the stomach.

"He believed he was making the weapon safe by pulling the trigger to drop the bolt on an empty chamber," the sheriff's office said in a statement obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Police were called to the home around 8:30pm, where the step-siblings were alone; Emilee had been studying. The seventh-grader died in a Fort Worth hospital around 10pm. The case is considered an accident, and police say no charges will be filed.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

2 year old girl injured in Texas

A 2 year old Texas girl was shot in her home and was taken to a hospital where she is expected to live:

A 2-year-old girl was airlifted to a Temple hospital after she was shot in a north Killeen home Friday morning.

Police and paramedics were called to the home in the 1700 block of North 24th Street at 11:02 a.m. to respond to reports of a shooting. According to police, the child was inside the home with her mother and another child, who was not injured, at the time of the incident.

The mother contacted 911 and attended to the child until paramedics arrived and took over, according to a news release from the Killeen Police Department.

Killeen police spokeswoman Ofelia Miramontez said the circumstances of the shooting are under investigation, but she confirmed that the weapon was a handgun.

The girl was airlifted to the McLane Children’s Hospital Scott & White in Temple. Late Friday afternoon, the girl was in surgery and listed in stable condition, according to police.

Toddler finds gun, shoots self in face, dies

2-year-old Trenton Mathis, of Cherokee County, Texas, found a loaded, unlocked handgun in his home Wednesday and unintentionally shot himself in the face. The toddler was rushed to the hospital in Tyler but was pronounced dead. According to news reports:

Mathis' great grandmother, Carolyn, told KLTV that Trenton went looking for gum through a bedroom door that was not closed all the way. He got onto her bed, and found the handgun on a nightstand.
Trenton and three other children were placed in the home of Carolyn Mathis and her husband late last year after abuse and neglect in their parents' home.
At a custody hearing, a judge ruled against a Child Protective Services recommendation that the children be relocated to somewhere other than the great grandparents' home. CPS deemed the home to be unsafe.

14 year old Texas boy shot accidentally

On Saturday a 14 year old Texas teen was accidentally shot:

Police in Texarkana, AR say a 14-year-old was shot and killed on Saturday afternoon.

Police responded to a home in the 300 block of Park Place Street about 3 p.m. At the home, police found the male teenager with what is right being called an accidental gunshot wound.

The coroner pronounced the teen dead at the scene. His body has gone to Little Rock for an autopsy.

Police are not releasing any more information at the moment as they continue to investigate how the shooting happened.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Texas 11 year old shot accidentally

A Texas child was accidentally shot last week:

Greenville police say a child was accidentally shot and killed inside a home Friday morning.

According to police, they received a 911 call at about 10:45 a.m. that someone had been shot inside a residence.

The first officer arrived at the scene only a minute later and located the injured 12-year-old child, identified as Keshawn Carter Davis. The child was transported to Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville where he was later pronounced dead.

Police said the child was shot once and that the shooting appears to be accidental, but that how the children came into possession of the gun and what led to the shooting are under investigation.

"By all accounts, there were no adults present when the shooting occurred. Five children, ages 4, 9 and three 12-year olds, were the only people in the home at the time of the shooting," said Daniel Busken, Greenville Chief of Police.

None of the other four children were injured.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Texas teen injured after argument

A Texas teen got into an argument with another teen and was shot and injured during the argument:

A teenager has been hospitalized after a shooting in Arlington that may have began with a fight over a girl, police say.

According to police, a teenage boy was visiting a relative at a south Arlington apartment complex when he got into an argument with another person who pulled out a gun and shot him.

The teen and the gunman knew each other and had a history of encounters, police said.

A friend attempted to take the victim to a hospital, but his car ran out of gas along the way.  An Arlington ambulance arrived and transported the victim to an area hospital where he is receiving treatment.

The teen is expected to survive and is being interviewed by police.

There is no mention of the ages of the teen and the "gunman".

Texas teen shot while driving

This sad case is about a Texas teen who was shot and killed while driving his car only days before he was set to graduate from high school. From an article:

A teenager driving a van was shot and killed Tuesday outside an apartment complex in northwest Houston.

Police said the boy ended up running into a sign outside the apartment complex located near the intersection of Cedar Post Lane and Westview.

The teen's mother was in the passenger seat when the shooting happened.  They had just dropped off his girlfriend.

His mother said one guy walked up and began talking with him and then another individual came up and started shooting.

Police said the teenager managed to put the car in reverse and ended up doing a donut before it stopped next to a tree.

He died on the spot.

Homicide detectives said the shooting is gang related.

The teenager’s mother said he was in a bad crowd and that she knew something bad was going to happen.

“We heard the gun go off, and then the police rushing over here,” said Paula Canavero.  The world has gone mad. I don’t understand why there is so much violence going on, and they just need to stop.”

Classmates said the teenager was a senior at Spring Woods High School and was set to graduate on Saturday.

2-year old Texas boy shoots and kills self with father's gun

A man and his 2-year old son were in the father's bedroom, in Corsicana, Texas, when his son found a loaded, unsecured handgun.  The boy discharged the gun, hitting himself in the head, and died soon after.

The father was in a walk-in closet only feet away.

From an article:

Kinsler Allen Davis was taken to Navarro Regional Hospital and then flown by helicopter to Children's Medical Center in Dallas, where doctors pronounced him dead just after 11 p.m. The boy was less than a month away from his third birthday.  

A preliminary investigation shows the boy found the handgun inside a bedroom and fired it. The bullet hit him in the head, Chief Bratton said. The boy's father was in a walk-in closet in the bedroom where the boy was, feet away from where the accident occured. Initially, the chief reported the father to be in another room but he later said that was incorrect. .... 

Bratton urged gun owners to take extra precautions to prevent accidents like this in the future.
"Even if you have a lot of experience with firearms you still need to take additional precautions to ensure this doesn't happen," he said. 

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

16-year old Houston boy unintentionally shot dead by another boy in a car

Gregory "Tiger" Michael Reese, age 16

A 16-year old boy, Gregory Michael Reese, Jr., nicknamed "Tiger", was riding with three or four other boys
in a car in Houston, Texas, when a boy in the
back seat pulled out a loaded handgun.  He unintentionally fired the gun, hitting Reese in the chest as he sat in the front seat.

The boys drove to a hospital, but the victim died.

From an article and news video:

It happened Tuesday at around 6:30pm. As many as five teens were in a silver sedan at the time the gun was discharged. 

Authorities say after the shot was fired, the group drove the injured teen, who's been identified as 16-year-old Gregory Reese, to Texas Children's Hospital in Katy, but it was too late. 

Detectives say so far, it appears that the gun accidentally fired as it was in the hands of one of the teens sitting in the back seat. Reese was in the front seat. 

When investigators arrived at the hospital, they separated the teens and called their parents to come get them. 

At this point, it's not clear if any charges will be filed. 

The teen shooter in custody

From another article, quoting the "Tiger's" parents:

Reese’s family says he was a good kid and a class clown who loved clothes, shoes and basketball, but hated trouble. 

“He had a job and was going to school. He loved to have fun. He was my best friend. We miss him,” his grieving father said.  .... 

Authorities say it appears to be an accident. But they are not saying who had the gun. Why was it out? No one is even saying what kind of gun it was. 

“We are getting different conflicting stories,” his dad said. 

“It just makes us more angry. Really, no means for him to die,” said Trevion Sears, Reese’s friend. 

“If he was just a person that was just out here, that would be one thing. I don’t want this to go down as just another black male who is dead,” his mom said. 

A memorial service is scheduled to be held 7 p.m. Wednesday at the neighborhood elementary school where "Tiger" loved to play basketball.

The articles don't say how the shooter got his hands on the gun and ammo.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.