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."
Why blame the girl for being a poor door knocker?
Unfortunately, I thought the same thing. First thing through my mind was - stepdad - didn't like the little girl - burglar - how convienient! Perhaps I am being too hard on him, but....!
What is wrong with this picture?
My thoughts exactly. Either there is stink in the story or he was crotch aiming.
Okay you don't have kids but this guy is bucked up in the head, the first thought is "it's one of the kids"...always.
I'm sorry, this doesn't make any sense to me.
I do have a security system that's always set though.
I've been awakened by grand babies staring at me, eyeball to eyeball, and nothing has frightened me enough to grab my weapon.
Something's just not right here! I'm not comfortable with this story.
She's shot in the chest? Must be a very tall 5 year old.
Just what was he aiming at on an adult, I wonder?
This is not a marksman issue. It is a shooting through the door issue. Something is up here, and it has nothing to do with his aim.
I think the situation called for more common sense than marksmanship. If there are kids in the house I would think that It would be reasonable to assume that it was more likely a child rather than a burglar was coming through the door.
Yeah, you know, my 4 year old son can come into our room in the middle of the night, slide in bed between me and hubby and neither one of us will wake up. My 8 year old can come into our room, quietly, and stand by the bed and look at me and try to wake me gently and I startle awake like I have been bitten by a bear! LOL!
No. It is not funny how the guy was a perfect 3am marksman killing the girl with a perfect chest shot by shooting through a close door when it is known that other family memebers/friends were in the house on the other side of the door.
I'm not blaming her. I'm suggesting one way that PARENTS can reduce the chance of such a tragedy occurring, while simultaneously teaching their children an element of common courtesy. I would never have barged into my parents room without knocking at that age, because by that time my parents had taught me to knock first (nor would my parents have barged into my room without knocking, once I was old enough to be closing my bedroom door when I went to sleep).
I have small kids and lots of dogs and don't sleep with the door to my bedroom closed.
Firing blindly at a rattling doorknob is just stupid. There is not enough information to this story. Anyone with small children knows that they often come to your room when they awake in the middle of the night.
How big was this house/apartment? He didn't hear a sound before he gunned down the child? Plus "He feels bad" about killing a child? He's not destroyed? Sheesh!
I think this guy was drunk and doesn't know much about guns.
It's tragic all the way around.
*****This story really smells bad.*****
yes it does.
I can't believe he would shoot through the door, especially since there was at least one small child in the house. He should have checked to see if it was her. He had another grown man sleeping right there, so he should have realized that man would have confronted an intruder before he got to their room. I'm sure he feels bad, but if he is prosecuted, I don't feel sorry for him.
An aim to the groin shot would have hit her in the head. He aimed really low here.
Then if the kid does not knock, the parents can blow the kid away without guilt?
>>I'm not blaming her. I'm suggesting one way that PARENTS can reduce the chance of such a tragedy occurring, while simultaneously teaching their children an element of common courtesy.<<
It's simpler than that. The parents can reduce the chance of this happening by not shooting through the door when others are known to be in the house.
That is CRIMINALLY STUPID, or worse.
Uh, you said that if she had knocked, it would have saved her life. That means you are blaming her (actions) for her death.
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