Houston-area kids paying heavy price as gun-wielding criminals push major crime wave

Texas’ largest metropolis and its surrounding space are seeing an uptick in gun violence and kids are more and more paying the value. 

Within the first few months of 2022, a number of kids in and round Houston have both been wounded or killed throughout gun incidents wherein they have been the unintended victims. Lots of the shootings occurred throughout street rage episodes, drive-by shootings and a minimum of one unintended firing of a gun. 

The violence was compounded by the capturing of two 9-year-old women in separate incidents inside per week of one another in February. 

One of many women, Arlene Alvarez, was fatally shot on Valentine’s Day when a person allegedly opened fireplace on the automobile she was in together with her household. Investigators mentioned he mistakenly thought a suspect who robbed him at a drive-thru ATM moments earlier was contained in the Alvarez household SUV.  

HOUSTONIANS ON EDGE FOLLOWING 3 ROAD RAGE SHOOTINGS OVER THE WEEKEND

Alvarez was the oldest of three kids – she had two brothers, ages 7 and 6 months – and all the time appreciated to work together with her mother and father, her mom Gwen Alvarez instructed Fox Information Digital. She described her daughter as a caregiver who wished to be a “little nail technician.”

The loss of life has left emotional scars on her and her kids, she mentioned. 

“There’s all the time a sure time at night time the place I worry being exterior due to what occurred to us,” Alvarez mentioned. “I really feel like ever since Arlene’s passing, there are an increasing number of shootings. Each night time I really feel like there’s all the time a headline story that someone bought shot or street rage. It is getting out of hand.”

Many different youngster victims within the area have been shot at or close to condo complexes as they go about regular routines like enjoying in a courtyard or strolling house with a guardian. 

“Most of these incidents appear to be actually type of focused and clustered in areas the place we’ve got seen will increase in homicides typically,” Beth Gilmore, an assistant professor within the Division of Prison Justice and Social Work on the College of Houston-Downtown, instructed Fox Information.

One of many more moderen shootings involving younger victims occurred on March 17 when a 13-year-old boy was shot and killed whereas in a automobile on Interstate 610. One other boy within the automobile, additionally 13, was shot whereas a 3rd was unhurt, police mentioned. 

The boy who was killed was recognized by his household as Joseph Jimenez, Fox affiliate KRIV-TV reported. They instructed the information outlet they imagine the capturing was an incident of street rage, however authorities haven’t decided a motive, a police spokesperson instructed Fox Information. 

Nationwide, kids are dying or being injured from gun violence extra typically. In 2021, greater than 1,500 kids and youngsters have been killed by firearms in comparison with 1,381 in 2020, in response to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun violence incidents.  

As of Monday, 429 kids and teenagers have died this 12 months in gun-related crimes and different incidents, the nonprofit mentioned. 

Hours earlier than Alvarez was shot and killed, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner and Mayor Sylvester Turner pleaded with the general public for assist in catching these answerable for the Feb. 8 capturing of Ashanti Grant, additionally 9. 

Grant was in an SUV together with her household when she was struck by a bullet in an obvious street rage capturing on a Houston freeway, police mentioned. No arrests have been made in that case and she or he stays hospitalized. 

“No youngster ought to be in a hospital as a result of some silly particular person determined to fireside a gun,” a pissed off Turner mentioned throughout a information convention

Officers haven’t given a transparent motive why kids are falling prey to gun violence.

On the identical day Grant was shot, a 13-year-old was shot by one other teenager. The kid was taken to a hospital in secure situation and a 16-year-old boy has been arrested. One mid-February capturing at a Houston condo advanced injured a 4-year-old boy who was shot within the leg whereas enjoying in a courtyard.

On Feb. 4, Darius Dugas, 11, was shot and killed in northeast Harris County when he went to fetch his jacket from his mom’s automobile in a parking zone. A 19-year-old suspect recognized as Daveyonne Howard was caught breaking right into a automobile and started capturing on the proprietor of the automobile, who was chasing him in an effort to recuperate his stolen property, the Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned. 

One of many bullets struck Dugas, killing him, authorities mentioned. On the time, Howard was out on bond for aggravated theft, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.

In January, a number of kids have been injured from gunfire in separate shootings. A 7-year-old boy was injured within the leg when he was wounded at a southwest Houston condo advanced. On Jan. 17, two brothers, ages 1 and 6, and a person have been shot however survived. Initially of the 12 months, a 4-year-old woman recognized as George Floyd’s niece, Arianna, was shot when a number of bullets got here flying into her Houston condo, police mentioned. 

Within the final three months of 2021, town reported a number of youngster victims of gun violence, together with a 7-year-old boy shot within the head, an 11-year-old woman shot a number of occasions by stray bullets, and separate drive-by shootings that injured a 1-year-old boy and 4-year-old woman.

A ten-year-old boy was killed in an unintended capturing on Oct. 28 when he and his 11-year-old cousin went to his mom’s automobile to get one thing and located a gun inside, police mentioned. The youngsters have been enjoying with the weapon and the kid was shot, authorities mentioned. 

Consultants say as a result of kids are virtually by no means the supposed sufferer, shooters are presumably opening fireplace indiscriminately and the younger victims are getting caught within the crossfire. 

“The shooter is reckless as to the results they usually might not know that an harmless youngster is there on the premises or in a automobile, they usually’re simply decided to shoot their goal,” Marc Levin, a Houston resident and chief coverage counsel on the Council of Prison Justice, instructed Fox Information. “They’re probably not taking any precaution as as to whether there is a youngster in the best way.”

The suspected shooter within the Alvarez case, Tony Earls, 41, has been charged with aggravated assault with extreme bodily harm. After bHe appeared at a information convention the place his spouse commented on his actions. 

“We didn’t know if we’d get out alive. My husband did what he might. With out this man attempting to rob us, we wouldn’t be on this place,” Deyonna Hines mentioned in a press release on his behalf. “The lives of two households have been without end altered by the poor resolution of a person who continues to be on the streets.” 

A theft suspect is captured leaping a fence in Houston on Feb. 14 after robbing somebody at gunpoint moments earlier. The sufferer allegedly fired at a automobile and fatally shot Arlene Alvarez.
(Houston Police Division )

Amid the rise in gun violence, metropolis leaders and regulation enforcement officers have promised to deal with the difficulty. 

Earlier this 12 months, Turner unveiled “One Secure Houston,” a $44 million crime discount initiative. The trouble focuses on 4 areas: violence discount and crime prevention, disaster intervention, forming partnerships with communities, and youth outreach. 

On the time, he acknowledged the influence of violent crime in a tweet, saying residents have felt like town was “underneath siege.”

“I do not keep in mind Houston being like this after I was a child,” Gwen Alvarez mentioned. 

The uptick in violence largely coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and consultants initially cited the monetary and psychological stress from the upending of each day life, a reckoning of the historical past of racism, and cases of police brutality as doable elements within the crime surge following years of relative peace.  

In 2021, town noticed a 17% bounce in homicides in comparison with 2020, in response to police knowledge. 

“There’s simply been this large shift on account of loads of issues,” Gilmore mentioned of the crime spike. “One thing totally different has positively occurred.”