HOUSTON – A 7-year-old boy has been shot in the back during a drive-by shooting in southwest Houston.
Houston police responded to the shooting at 7700 Corporate Drive in Chinatown around 2:53 p.m.
Investigators said the child was shot in the lower back and transported to a nearby hospital.
KPRC 2 reporter Corley Peel spoke with family members at the scene who said the boy was in the hospital and expected to survive. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the boy was undergoing surgery.
KPRC 2 obtained surveillance video from neighbors, showing a blue truck with what appears to be ladders in its bed flying down Langdon Street. A gray colored sedan was seen following closely behind the truck. Moments later, several gunshots can be heard after the vehicles are out of the video frame.
Detectives believe the gunshots came from the sedan. It’s unclear if anyone in the blue truck fired back.
A witness spoke to KPRC 2 anonymously in Spanish. She said she saw one of the bullets hit the 7-year-old boy in the back. She said it happened while he was with his mother in front of an apartment complex.
According to Sargeant David Solis with Houston Police department, officials are still trying to determine a possible motive for the seemingly senseless violence.
“Again, we don’t know if they were in a road rage,” Solis said. “We don’t know if there was some kind of altercation.”
Neighbors said the area is no stranger to gunfire. HPD’s crime map showed there have been 25 other aggravated assaults in the past month within a mile radius of the apartment complex.
“I think it’s definitely sad any time anyone is injured in the city,” Solis said. “If you see gun violence—any type of violence—we’re going to do our hardest to try to get justice for the victim and for the mother and try to give them the resources.”