Sunday evening was a family birthday celebration for the Reynas. It was the first time they had seen each other in over a year and the cousins were the most excited.
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"They were running around the yard and they had Nerf wars," said Adriana Reyna. "They were wrestling and just enjoying family time."
However, panic quickly set in when they saw police lights and Texas City officers walking toward their home. It was then that the children's demeanor changed.
"They were very frightened," Adriana said. "All of us were. We did not have a clue what was going on."
It turned out someone called 911 on the family, stating there were gunshots and people fighting, according to Adriana.
Taide Pineda was one of the responding officers who said he did not see any weapons, just Nerf guns. Once they noticed what was going on, the officers quickly switched gears and made sure to ease any fears. In fact, a photo was snapped after Officer Pineda gave the kids some toys. He has boxes of them in his unit and said he's made it a priority to put the community children first and change their mentality when it comes to how they view officers.
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"To me, kids are the future. So we need to make sure that the kids feel safe, that they can trust us," Pineda said. "So we need to build a relationship with them, try to make them grow up not hating us."
Now, the family hopes the caller didn't intentionally single them out.
"People need to be cautious how they (make) those kinds of calls," said Adriana's sister-in-law, Yvette Reyna. "It could have been worse than what it was you know? Officers could've had their guns drawn, and it could've gone left really quick."
"I really give credit to the department for how they handled it," said Adriana. "We even shared some laughs whenever we saw the aftermath of the Nerf bullets throughout the yard. So, it turned out to be a good outcome."
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