The boy was playing basketball with his brother when someone fired gunshots at them.
HOUSTON — The family of an 11-year-old boy who was shot while playing basketball outside his North Houston home is still searching for answers as the shooter remains at large. The boy is in the hospital on a ventilator, and no arrests have been made.
Cynthia Vasquez, the boy’s mother, was fearful after the incident.
“That’s my biggest question, why? Why would someone do that to my family?” she said. Vasquez had left briefly last Thursday evening to pick up burgers for dinner, leaving her sons, 11-year-old Julian and 13-year-old Rigo, playing basketball outside.
While Vasquez was in a store just half a block away, her 17-year-old daughter called, urging her to return home quickly.
“I walk in my door, Julian’s on the couch, pale, and Rigo is holding his chest with a T-shirt,” Vasquez recalled. Rigo had been instructed by emergency services to keep the wound compressed.
Houston police reported that a man driving a four-door blue sedan passed by the boys three or four times before stopping and firing two shots, one of which struck Julian in the chest.
Vasquez questioned her children about any possible altercations.
“Did you all like stick the finger at somebody passing by, or anything? Any arguments?” she asked. “No, no, no,” they replied. “I can’t figure out for the life of me why anybody would do that to an 11-year-old kid,” she said.
Police have not provided any new updates on the driver, stating only that the shooter is “still at large.” Investigators suggest the behavior of the driver appears to indicate a targeted attack, but the motive remains unclear.
Julian’s condition has shown signs of improvement since he was shot. The bullet passed through a lung and his liver, and chipped one of the vertebrae along his spine. Despite this, Vasquez is hopeful for his recovery and is praying the shooter is apprehended soon.
“If he can do this to an 11-year-old, he doesn’t need to be out on the streets. Because nobody is safe,” she said.
Houston police urge anyone with information to contact them. Meanwhile, Vasquez has set up a GoFundMe page to help her family relocate.