Sleeping 13-year-old shot to death 7 years after his dad was fatally shot, TX cops say
Gun violence has devastated a Texas family twice in less than a decade, officials said.
Houston police believe a 13-year-old boy was the victim of a targeted attack when several gunshots went through his window, striking him multiple times.
A man fired shots from outside the apartment building, through the teen’s bedroom window, around 1 a.m. July 11, police said. The suspected shooter fled the scene before police arrived, Assistant Chief Adrian Rodriguez said during a news conference.
Family identified the 13-year-old as Justin Hardeway Jr., according to KRIV and KTRK.
The teen, “affectionately called ‘JJ’ and to some others as ‘Lil Justo,’” according to his obituary, was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
“He had the most beautiful smile to melt any heart,” his obituary said. ”He was a quiet kid but when he would speak, he spoke with volume like a young man.”
Seven years before Hardeway Jr.’s killing, his father, Justin Hardeway Sr., was shot and killed in May 2017, police told KTRK.
Suspects have been identified in both cases, but no one has been arrested and charged with the father or son’s death, police and KTRK reported.
A video of the person accused of shooting Hardeway Sr. has been on Houston police’s YouTube channel since 2017.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, 19 teenagers have been fatally shot in Houston this year.
This story was originally published July 31, 2024 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Sleeping 13-year-old shot to death 7 years after his dad was fatally shot, TX cops say."
