Mother shot at Harris County apartment alongside 2-year-old daughter speaks out

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman shot inside her Northwest Harris County apartment alongside her 2-year-old daughter is sharing her story with ABC13.

Alondra Ayala was frying hot dogs for her family inside her Point Park apartment on Wednesday when her world imploded.

Her 2-year-old daughter was swaddled in blankets watching television as her daughter's father met a man, who had promised to sell them a car outside the apartment.

Ayala said the man had visited their complex a few days before to show them a black Dodge Challenger.

On Wednesday, she said the man walked in and out of the apartment, before persuading her daughter's father to go to a smoke shop across the street.

While the two were at the smoke shop, Ayala said another man entered their home through an unlocked door.

"He pulled me from behind my hair, and he was like, 'b--- get on the ground, get on the ground,'" Ayala recounted. "He was like, 'b-- where's the s---? Where's the s---?', and he was holding the gun at my face."

Ayala said the man dragged her into the apartment's main room, where she noticed a third man. She said he asked her "Where's the gun?" and "Where's the money?"

Ayala said the commotion startled her daughter who walked into the room and asked, "What's happening, mommy?"

She replied, "Baby, I don't know."

Ayala said the third man pushed her daughter's father back into the apartment. The three men continued making threats and got into a physical altercation with her daughter's father, wrestling over the gun.

She said her daughter's father threw $2400 cash on the ground and cocked his gun as the three ran off without any money.

During the struggle, she said the gunman fired off shots. Three bullets hit Ayala's hands and a fourth was lodged into her daughter's elbow.

The family desperately ran from the apartment. "[My daughter's father] was like, 'hurry up, hurry up,' he was scared the guys were coming back," she said.

Harris County Sheriff's Office has arrested Jarrel McWilliams in connection to the attack. McWilliams was also shot in the incident and taken to the hospital. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated robbery.

"I just hope they're able to do something about it," Ayala said. "I wouldn't want anyone going through this. My daughter is two. The way she breathed. I was screaming, 'Y'all killed my baby! Y'all killed my baby!' I just felt like it was the end of the world for me."

Initially, the Harris County Sheriff's Office reported the robbery was a drug deal gone wrong, citing the large amount of cash and drug evidence at the scene.

Ayala said marijuana was on the ground because one of the suspects was rolling but the sheriff's office's statement said that the incident stemmed from a drug deal.

Initial court documents mention only a car sale, not drugs.

"I was mad because they're so quick to assume," Ayala said of the sheriff's office.