‘It was clearly targeted’: Boy killed when person fired multiple shots at E. Harris Co. home

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A 7-year-old died after being wounded in a drive-by shooting while inside his bedroom in east Harris County.

The sheriff’s office’s homicide unit said that authorities were called to 13800 McNair in the Cloverleaf area at about 10:45 p.m. Sunday after someone inside a silver car pulled up to a trailer home and fired multiple shots.

The child was in bed in the front of the home at the time of the shooting. He then got up and told his mother he had been shot before becoming unresponsive, said Sgt. Jason Brown.

“It was clearly targeted,” Sgt. Brown said. “The suspects stopped in front of the home and fired multiple rounds into the home. I don’t have an exact number, but it was quite a few.”

The boy was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died.

In an update Monday afternoon, deputies identified the victim as Paul Vasquez.

Galena Park ISD sent a letter out to parents indicating the child attended Cloverleaf Elementary School. They plan to have their counselors and crisis response team available for students.

Officials interviewed the family to find out what may have caused someone to shoot at the home, but a motive is unknown at this time.

“They say they were home at the time, and someone drove by and shot,” Sgt. Brown said. “We asked if they had been involved in anything recently, as far as threats or altercations or anything like that. They weren’t able to give us any solid description of anything like that.”

The child was home at the time with his mother and two brothers, but he was the only one who was shot.

Unfortunately, child shooting deaths are becoming increasingly common. Data from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science indicates that 19 children have died in 2022 from firearm deaths classified as homicide or accidental.

That number is compared to six in 2018 year-to-date, 12 in 2019, 16 in 2020, and 21 in 2021.

Dr. Sandra McKay with UTHealth in Houston and Memorial Hermann treats pediatric patients who survive the shootings.

She said the hospital system had seen a 65% increase in firearm-related injuries to children since the start of the pandemic.

“We have really done a fantastic job at making cars safer and car seats safer and roads safer to help reduce those injuries from motor vehicles, but we really have not taken that approach to firearm injuries, and that’s really where we need to be to keep children safe,” Dr. McKay said.