HOUSTON – A baby boy is in stable condition at Texas Children’s Hospital after a bullet pierced his legs when it went through the door in which he was riding in, police said.
Investigators said the 1-year-old’s mother didn’t realize until they got home that he had been shot.
“This is not a usual incident where someone just driving down the street winds up getting hit as a passerby,” said Lt. Robert Blain of the Houston Police Department Homicide Division.
He said the child’s mother was driving Monday on Beechnut Street near Mullins Drive in southwest Houston when she heard several loud noises that sounded like gunshots.
Police said a dark-colored SUV traveling south on Mullins Drive from Beechnut fired shots from inside the vehicle, shooting the infant in both legs.
“She did not realize that her child had been struck,” said Blain. “The child was crying some, but she drove a few blocks home, over here. When she went to go check on her child at that point, she had realized the child had been shot in the leg.”
Police said the woman called an ambulance and the boy was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital.
Investigators spent Monday night in the woman’s garage in the 5600 block of Jackwood Street where the car was parked.
Police took out the car seat and tried to piece together what happened.
“At this point we really don’t know who the person was that wound up shooting or the reason why,” said Blain. “(There's) nothing to show one way or the other if they were targeted. I have investigators down at the hospital talking to the mother, but I don’t know what they found out yet.”
Blain said they are asking for the public’s help, and anyone who has information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
