Parents of 6-year-old boy killed by stray bullet recall last moments with son

HOUSTON -- One day ago, six-year-old Jairo Victoriano was among the brightest students in his class. On Friday, classmates learned that the boy who dreamed of being a policeman or a doctor one day, was dead. It appears he was the unintended victim of a gun fired from a neighboring apartment.

The boy was walking into the bedroom, behind his mother and in front of his toddler brother. His mother, Raquel Reyes, described what she thought was a lightbulb exploding. Instead, it was the sound of a gunshot that struck her son in the cheek.

By the time his father, Lorenzo Reyes, raced home from work, paramedics were in the room beside Jairo.

"I pushed them aside," he told us, "and cradled my son, asking why? The last thing I did was kiss him."

The child was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital but was pronounced dead by the time he arrived.

Harris County homicide detectives questioned five people in the apartment from which the shot was fired. Among them were three juvenile boys -- pre-teens -- and two adult males in their early 20's. All were taken in for questioning and were later released. At this point, no charges have been filed, but the investigation continues.

Next door, in the apartment where Jairo lived with his parents, and his toddler brother, the grief is overwhelming.

Of those she believes are responsible, "God forgive them, but they took my child, my life."

Between tears, she clutched a Winne the Pooh stuffed animal. It was her son's favorite toy.

Jairo was said to be a bright student at the school he attended, just across the street from the apartment complex.

"He always asked to do extra assignments and was reading well above his grade level," Aline ISD Spokesperson Craig Eichorn said.