Grandmother of 10-month-old shot in North Austin speaks with FOX 7 Austin
AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A truly unthinkable crime: Sunday night at an apartment complex on Wooten Park drive in North Austin. "The call came in at 11:10 pm, a call into our 911 system stating that a baby had been shot," said Austin Police Chief Brian Manley at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
Manley said shots were fired into the front door of the apartment striking the child and his father.
"We could not have a more innocent victim than a 10-month old child nearly sleeping on the sofa when bullets rang through the front door striking him," Manley said.
"It was absolutely the worst phone call I've ever received. I was at home, I was actually getting ready for bed and then the father of the child actually called me because of course they had taken the baby and my daughter into another ambulance and they were still working on him," said Rebecca, the child's grandmother. (We're leaving out Rebecca's last name at her request.)
The father was treated and released. Rebecca told FOX7 Austin, her daughter, the child's mom, wasn't hurt in the shooting. But her grandson was shot twice in the abdomen.
Police called the injuries "life-threatening."
"We are completely thankful that EMS got there when they did and worked on him on the way that absolutely is crucial to his survival getting to the hospital," Rebecca said.
After multiple surgeries, she says her grandson is improving. "As of yesterday he was alert, kind of looking around, he's a little spacey but he's doing good. He's doing really good," she said.
But Rebecca says there's still a long road to recovery ahead.
"They're just hoping that maybe he'll have a scar and it will just kind of heal by itself," Rebecca said.
Rebecca is thankful for the community's support. "Just the amazing outpour of prayers, well wishes, people wanting to know how it was doing, complete strangers. It's been absolutely amazing and we wanted to reach out and just thank everybody," she said.
The child's grandmother is asking for those prayers to continue.
As for the shocking nature of the crime, she says her family doesn't know who is responsible.
Chief Manley told us Tuesday they're looking for two persons of interest that match these descriptions:
- A man who they can't provide a description for yet
- Hispanic or White female 5’2 and around 120 pounds who was wearing a turquoise or blue hoodie with pink flowers.
The man and woman were at the door before the shooting. Whether they were involved in the crime, that's what police are trying to find out. "If you know something, if you saw something, if you've heard something...if you were in that neighborhood around that apartment when this attack took place, please reach out, please call us," Manley said.
"We are absolutely hopeful APD and everybody else that's helping will find who did it," Rebecca said.
Rebecca has also set up a GoFundMe for the mounting hospital bills.
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