Houston, TX – In the early hours of Thursday, Dec. 26, a man shot three boys in Houston, who were reportedly attempting to rob him.
Deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office arrived at an apartment complex on N. Houston Rosslyn Road shortly after midnight. Upon arrival, authorities discovered a 12-year-old boy “with multiple gunshot wounds lying on the ground,” according to a statement from the HCSO.
Authorities subsequently discovered two additional males, aged 12 and 13, who had also sustained gunshot wounds at a nearby apartment complex.
Three young males are currently receiving medical care at a nearby hospital. According to police, the individual who “sustained numerous gunshots” is currently in the ICU, while the other two “are stable with non-life threatening wounds.”
A 25-year-old man reported to authorities that three boys confronted him and purportedly “aimed firearms at him in a bid to steal from him.” He has been taken into custody and is working with law enforcement.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Major Saul Suarez of the HCSO announced that a fourth juvenile has been detained. He also mentioned that authorities have recovered several weapons from the scene and are actively searching for additional ones.
The partner of the individual accused of shooting the teenage boys informed ABC 13 that they were coming back from a holiday celebration and she had dozed off in the vehicle. Upon their return home, they reportedly found their vehicle encircled by four armed boys. She mentioned that her boyfriend first believed it was a prank since the accused individuals are quite young.
A neighbor, Bruce Bailey, reported that he saw the event unfold and rushed to assist when one of the boys started calling for help.
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“I screamed out to him, ‘Are you OK?’ And he just put his hand in the air and screamed for help and I went and tried to help him,” Bailey told KHOU 11. He added that he called the police as his “other neighbor came and held [the juvenile male’s] hand and was talking to him, trying to keep him alive.”
When questioned about whether the weapons reportedly used by the young males were “real firearms” or “replicas,” Suarez stated during the briefing that authorities currently have “what seem to be weapons” in their possession.
A grand jury is scheduled to review the case soon.