Suspect arrested in connection with child shooting in Colorado Springs
A one-year-old boy was shot in the leg Tuesday night and was transported to the hospital from a Colorado Springs apartment complex.
The child was treated for serious but non-life-threatening wounds. The arrest affidavit said doctors at Memorial Hospital said the boy will face permanent disfigurement due to being shot in both legs.
Jair Isaza, 26, is charged with Illegal Discharge of a Firearm and Possession of a Weapon by a Previous Offender.
During the investigation, it was determined the round was fired from an adjoining apartment, and the residents of that apartment were quickly contacted and detained. Isaza is suspected of firing that gun.
Police found a Smith and Wesson .380 caliber handgun on the bed in Isaza’s apartment. The arrest affidavit for Isaza said he bought the gun a month ago, however, he wasn’t supposed to own a gun in the first place as he’s a convicted felon.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” said Jacquez Cobb, a neighbor living in the apartments next door. “She called me and said quick, lock the door there’s been a shooting.”
Cobb and his roommate Antwon Stephens woke up to all the commotion.
“It’s so scary, we could’ve gotten hit…anybody could’ve been hit,” said Stephens.
Paul Paradis, owner of Paradise Sales said handguns can shoot through multiple walls.
“I’ve set up hundreds of different tests with hundreds of different bullets,” Paradis said. “Most handgun bullets will go through 5,6,7, up to 8,9 walls in a normal home.”
Paradis compared the odds of getting shot through a wall to the odds of getting struck by lightning. But said gun owners need training to make sure they’re handling the gun properly.
“Before you touch the gun, you look around and go, ‘When I pick up this gun, where is going to be the safest direction to point it?'” Paradis said.
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We started hearing reports of a shooting at around 10:30 p.m. Colorado Springs police say they first responded to the Alturas At Bell Tower Heights located at 1190 Bell Tower Heights on the southeast side of town to investigate a bullet hole through neighboring apartments.
When they arrived, officers found a child with a serious gunshot wound to the leg. At last report, that child was at the hospital with a life-threatening injury but was in stable condition.
Two people in the apartment next to the victim’s have been detained. It is unclear at this time what led up to a gun being fired.
We will continue to update this story.
