Boy, 14, shot to death day after birthday in north Houston

HOUSTON – A 14-year-old boy died Monday morning after he was shot in north Houston, a day after his birthday, according to Houston police.

HPD officials said around 2:20 a.m. at 192 Goodson Drive, several witnesses and O’Cyrus Breaux were standing on the driveway in front of his home when they heard gunshots and saw O’Cyrus had been struck.

O’Cyrus’ family believes it was a stray bullet that hit him in the stomach.

"He was the best thing,” cried Ellen Breaux, the teen’s mother.

She said O’Cyrus was an honor roll student, liked making inventions and played football.

“Man, I got that report, he got As and Bs, he ran around showing everybody,” explained Breaux.

Officers were responding to a report of a robbery around 2 a.m. when the family stopped the officers in the 100 block of Goodson.

A family member was driving the teen, who had been shot in the stomach, to a hospital and the officer called an ambulance, police said.

The teen was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands, where he died.

Police said neighbors reported hearing several gunshots that "came out of nowhere."

"At some point gunshots went off, but not from anybody that was in the crowd," Houston Police Department Homicide Detective David Stark said. "The complainant was struck once. He was the only one that was struck."

The boy's aunt said the family is still waiting to hear exactly what happened from investigators.

"He was a real happy kid. He loved his mom," the boy's aunt Juliette Jackson said. "It's kind of hard for me to talk about him in the past."

"Today members of the Aldine Independent School District showed up knocking on her (O’Cyrus’ mother) door, school teachers, school counselors -- that's the kind of impact this kid made, he was a very positive student,” said E.A. Deckard, senior pastor of Green House International Church in Houston.

It is unclear if the robbery and the shooting are connected.

"As far as we know, nothing was taken," Stark said. "They (witnesses) didn't see the shooter. Right now, we're just hearing that the shots came out of nowhere."

The motive for the shooting is under investigation.

Detective said they would be taking family members to the police station for questioning.

Deckard, who is part of the No More Bloodshed Movement, was with O’Cyrus’ mother Monday afternoon.

He said she moved O’Cyrus and her two other sons, ages 11 and 17, to Houston to get away from violence in New Orleans.

“And ironically, six years ago she moved her family from New Orleans to escape gun violence and her son ends up a victim of gun violence,” said Deckard.

“We're going to continue to spread the message, no more bloodshed in our community and we need the community to rise together to support families like this in a time of grief, but also create opportunities to get young people off the streets, back in school and find things for kids to do other than get in trouble,” said Deckard. “Her son was victimized because other kids had nothing else to do."

He said the family plans to bury O’Cyrus in New Orleans and is working on funeral plans currently.

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