Father Shot In Front Of 10-Month-Old Child During Shootout In Parking Lot, Man Dead

A father was shot in front of his 10-month-old child during a shootout in the parking lot of an apartment in NorthEast Harris County, Texas, on Tuesday (May 12).

According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded to Timber Ridge Apartments in the 5300 block of Aeropark Drive near Crosswinds on Tuesday night after receiving reports of a shooting.

The officers found a man lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound in the parking lot. The unnamed victim was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

According to Sgt. Sidney Miller from the sheriff's office, a woman and her brother were the prime witnesses of the shooting incident. Upon questioning the witnesses, officers learned that the woman was the mother of the victim's 10-month-old child. The child was also present at the scene with his mother.

The woman’s brother was also injured in the shootout. But the officers did not know about the man’s injuries until at least five hours after the original incident was reported. He had managed to get to a nearby clinic where he got his injuries dressed and then returned.

Police believe that the victim and the man exchanged fires.

"There was some type of exchange of gunfire when the shooting happened," Sgt. Miller said. "The brother of the biological mother was apparently hit.”

However, it is still unclear as to what led to the shooting. The identities of the woman and her brother were not revealed.

The child was found safe and was sent to be with relatives.

An investigation was ongoing and no further details were available at the moment.

In a similar incident reported earlier this month, a father in Nashville, Tennessee, jumped out of his apartment's back window while holding his 2-year-old child to escape gunshots that were fired at him. According to the police, an unknown man fired at the victim while he was inside the apartment with his child. Luckily, he was not hit and managed to escape through the window. The child and the father suffered injuries during the escape.