Boy recovering after being shot in drive by
HOUSTON
Police said someone opened fire on the boy's home on Ferguson Way in north Houston overnight. The family -- which consists of two grandparents, a daughter and four young children -- is convinced the shooter mistook their home for someone else's. Regardless, it left a little boy with a lifetime scar.
However, for grandfather Jimmy Fitzpatrick, this was like Christmas morning.
"Stay right here, all right?" he whispered to his grandson.
On his lap is his 3-year-old grandson, Marcus Garrett Jr. Beneath the bandage on Marcus' tiny foot is a bullet hole. Marcus was a casualty of a drive-by shooting just after midnight. He was one of four young children in the family's small house in the Acres Homes area.
"We were all sitting on the couch. Everybody on the couch, just sitting there, all the kids, everybody. And he's the only one who got hit," the boy's mother, Laterica Swaizer, said.
As many as 30 rounds were fired. The bullet holes remain, penetrating the siding, the sheetrock and even a picture frame. The mystery, the family says, is who did it and why.
"The only thing I can tell you is only God knows. I'm hoping that it don't happen anymore. I'm hoping this is the end of this," Fitzpatrick said.
Tonight the children will be staying elsewhere. Marcus and his mother are moving to his father's home. Marcus Garrett Sr. is still stunned by it all.
"My boy, I mean, he's just a boy," Garrett said. "Nobody was coming to their house and shooting up their little boy."
First though, he'll have to pry his son away from his grandfather.
"Papa's got you. You're my special baby," Fitzpatrick said, as he rocked little Marcus in his arms.
There is only a vague description of the getaway car -- a beige four-door sedan last seen heading east on Ferguson Way. Police do not have any suspects. Anyone with information on the shooting is being asked to call the Houston Police Department.
Boy injured in drive-by shooting
The shooting happened overnight at a family's home on Ferguson Way at Marjorie on the north side. Police say a vehicle pulled up in front of the home and someone in the vehicle sprayed the home with bullets.
The grandparents who live there say they are shocked by the shooting. They believe their home was targeted by mistake and can't believe their innocent grandson was transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound.
"You could hear them hitting the door," said grandfather Jimmy Fitzpatrick as he showed us the bullet holes on the wall. "One here and one here and one at the bottom."
Police say it was around midnight when 20-30 rounds were fired into the house with four children under age 4 inside. Geneva Swaizer and her daughter grabbed three of the kids.
"When the bullets were hitting, we all got out," said his grandmother.
His grandfather tried to protect 3-year-old Marcus Garrett.
"I grabbed him here (across his chest and shoulder) and just like laid him down to try to cover him up," said Fitzpatrick.
But he says as he forced Marcus to the floor, the toddler's foot flew in the air and a bullet went straight through. It took a moment to realize the boy was hurt because his grandfather says Marcus never shed a tear, only making a special request.
"The only thing he was telling me was, 'Papa, you said you were going to get me a water gun,'" Fitzpatrick said.
As they continue adding up the bullet holes in the wall, the grandparents say they are still trying to figure out why their home was targeted.
"We don't make enemies. We're not that type," Fitzpatrick told us.
However, even with the damage, they say they are grateful because things could have been worse.
Marcus Garrett was back home Wednesday afternoon from Texas Children's Hospital. And Fitzpatrick says he will buy Marcus that water gun he's been asking for.