Posted on 08/16/2004 2:04:13 PM PDT by tx4guns
HOUSTON -- A 5-year-old girl's stepfather accidentally shot and killed the child after mistaking her for a burglar, according to law officers.
Struck in the chest with a single bullet, Alejandra Hernandez died Sunday after she was taken to LBJ Hospital in Houston.
Agun Ortega Pina told police he heard suspicious noises and reached for his gun about 1 a.m. He shot when someone tried to open the door of the bedroom where he and his wife were sleeping.
But the person Pina thought was breaking into his bedroom was actually his stepdaughter, who just wanted to be with her parents.
Pina, 25, of Houston has not been charged in the tragic case of mistaken identity. But police say the case will instead be referred to the Harris County Grand Jury.
Silverio Portillo said he was staying at the home when Pina fired the round that struck the child in the chest.
"I just woke up and Alejandra was right there on the floor," Portillo told the Houston Chronicle through an interpreter for Monday's editions.
Portillo said he then helped the parents carry their wounded child to the family's van.
"She was alive -- she was breathing," he said.
A family friend spoke with Pina soon after the little girl was shot at the Northeast Houston home.
"He has a broken heart," said Max Gutierrez. "He told me, 'I can't believe it. I feel bad."'
Shocked neighbors gathered across the street from the small woodframed house. They are helping with family expenses, distributing plastic buckets with the victim's photo in area restaurants and businesses. They said burglaries were a concern in the area.
"The family was very happy," said Sammy Gomez, a next-door neighbor. "We're all friends here."
Eleven-year-old Juan Rodriguez' parents told him about his best friend's death.
"She liked to play right here in the street," he said. "She was like my little sister. She liked to share everything."
Has there been a problem with midget home invaders in the Houston area?
"I can not imagine shooting through a closed door like that. My son comes in to my room a lot while I'm sleeping."
Same here. Especially after a bad dream.
I am suspicious. A STEP FATHER shoots his NON biological child. Often step kids aren't wanted by the STEP parent.
I'm telling you. This story just stinks to high heaven.
Whatever the guy's occupation, he treasured his own life above the life of everyone else in his house.
I don't think that is the case in this instance. I'd bet my last dollar that this SOB intentionally killed that little girl. I'm sorry but the chest of a 5 year old girl is awful low. This guy wasn't aiming at what he thought was an adult behind the door. No way.
A-Gun? Is this a street name or a common Hispanic name? Somebody must be after this fool if he's so quick to fire.
5 year olds are forgetful. There is no way you can blame the kid for this.
It's strange too because according to the neighbor kid, the victim would play in the street. Who lets their kids play in the street if they care anything about them? A 5 year old playing in the street?
That's another thing. I do have kids, and any parent would think that it was the child at the door and not an intruder. Something is wrong here.
Two last names means they came from Mexico --- hispanic-Americans who have lived here for generations use one first name, a middle name, and one last name like other Americans do.
Exactly, that's a common experience that anyone with children in the house can relate to.
"I'm telling you. This story just stinks to high heaven."
I agree. I hope we hear more about the investigation into this soon.
Yes! We all have had babies to do that.
I still can't figure out why he aimed so low.
That is, if he thought it was an adult.
Maybe he was "busy" with the girl's mother and was fed up with the little girl coming into the room interrupting that.
"Hmmmm...a STEPFATHER....!"
I am a stepfather to four of my five children. They were ages two and a half, six, eight and nine, when their Mother and I married. We never hyphenated people in our house, step was something we never mentioned or thought about, and when the son by their Mother and me was born, we didn't hyphenate their relation ship to one another either-we never mentioned or thought about half brothers and half sisters-they were and are brothers and sisters.
The ages of the five of them are now 47, 52, 57, 58 and 60- we are scattered over this country from Idaho to North Carolina and from Michigan to Texas, but we are as close as ever in our hearts and keep in touch by phone and get together as often as we can. There are still no steps or halves in our family-we just plain damn don't stand for hyphenations-we are family.
I sensed that you intended your post as sarcasm. I just used it as an excuse to brag about my family, please forgive my vanity.
You are an excetpional father. Most are not as loving and as accepting as you. You are a shinniny example of what a step parent should be. I do not aim my venom at you but rather the general rule for step parents.
Actually I'm not any kind of man -- I'm a woman. And I just hate to jump to conclusions in a case like this, when there may be important facts we don't know.
Where did I blame the child?
I didn't blame the child.
I am unfamiliar with the street in question. It may have been a dead end street where all the kids could safely play. I don't know.
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