Crime
Shooting of stroller-pushing mom raises fears in The Heights after bullet barely misses the baby
A woman walking her one-year-old son in a stroller was shot by a stray bullet in The Heights this week, raising fears in the trendy community.
The 35-year-old mother was walking with her young child near Harvard at 13th St. around 10:30 a.m. when she was shot in the leg. The woman's husband, who requested that he and his family's names not be released, received a phone call from his injured wife as she was loaded into the ambulance.
"It was definitely a scary, scary day," the woman's husband tells KHOU. "We're blessed. It could have been a lot worse."
"It went real fast, real quick. (She was like) 'Wow, what happened?' "
The incident began with an armed robbery of the nearby Paradise Smoke Shop in the 1300 block of Yale. Two criminals reportedly held a gun to the head of a neighboring business owner who walked in on the robbery. The robbers then bolted with cash and other items.
When the thieves sped off, a smoke shop employee chased after them in his vehicle. Officials say that one of the robbers opened fire on the employee's car around Harvard and Yale Street — and the mother was struck by a stray bullet.
According to KHOU, eyewitnesses said the bullet barely missed the baby.
"It went real fast, real quick. (She was like) 'Wow, what happened?' " the woman's husband says. "The neighbors there responded quickly and gave help to her and my son."
The woman's husband, who was in California on a business trip when the incident occurred, quickly returned on the first flight to Houston. He says his wife will be OK, but isn't sure she'll be walking around the neighborhood with their son anymore.
"It's really early," he says. "We love our neighborhood. We love our neighbors. We've been glad to live here in The Heights."
The Houston Police Department has not released descriptions of the suspects or the surveillance video from the smoke shop.
