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A police officer investigating reports about gunfire in a Pasadena neighborhood critically wounded a 13-year-old boy early today after the boy turned toward him with a pistol, investigators said.
The youth, who was shot while standing in his family's driveway in the 2200 block of Wren, was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital with three bullet wounds in the right side of his lower back.
He was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said this afternoon.
The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. after police had investigated several complaints about numerous gunshots fired in the neighborhood, beginning about 1 a.m., said Pasadena police Capt. A.H. "Bud" Corbett.
According to residents, as many as 20 to 30 shots were fired. Officers were unable to pinpoint the source of the gunfire, however, until several patrolmen went to the neighborhood and searched along Vince Bayou, which runs behind some homes.
The officers reported that they heard gunfire coming from the front of a house and heard bullets ripping through the wooden back fence.
They moved toward the front of the property and, as two of them reached the front, they saw the boy standing in the driveway, firing a .38-caliber revolver toward the back fence, Corbett said.
One officer, an eight-year veteran of the department whose name has not been released, drew his pistol and ordered the boy repeatedly to drop the gun, Corbett said.
Instead, the teenager turned toward him with the revolver still raised, the two officers reported.
"He didn't turn all the way around, but he turned toward the officer and the officer responded by shooting three or four times," Corbett said.
Two other teenagers who were present — a boy and a girl — were taken into custody. The girl kicked out a window of a patrol car after being placed inside, Corbett said.
He said at least one of the other youths is believed to have fired some shots, but the reason for the shooting was not clear.
The wounded youth's mother was not at home when the shooting took place, Corbett said. She was scheduled to return home at 6 a.m., he said, but it wasn't immediately known whether she had received word of the shooting and gone to the hospital, instead.
Scott McKay, who lives on a neighboring street, said he awoke to noise at about 2 a.m.
"I was awakened by what I thought was maybe fireworks,'' McKay said. "My first assumption was that school is out and maybe some kids were celebrating summer.''
Hearing nothing more, he returned to bed only to be disturbed soon by more noise.
Still thinking some neighborhood youths might be causing a disturbance, McKay said he got a flashlight and went into his backyard, a short distance from Vince Bayou.
Finding nothing, he returned to bed and soon heard what by then he had recognized as gunshots. He had heard about five shots each time he investigated.
"I called police and they said they had already gotten some calls,'' McKay said.
By the time police appeared in the neighborhood, McKay said he had gotten into his truck to look around.
"A policeman shined a flashlight in and said 'Get back in your house,''' McKay said.
Police went through McKay's neighbors' properties to get to the fence that blocked access to where the shooting was determined to have been going on, McKay said.
"Then I heard a number of shots,'' McKay said. "Then, it sounded like a different type of shots after that.''
McKay, who with his wife has lived nearly five years in the neighborhood, said Friday was the first time he and neighbors with whom he spoke had heard gunfire around their homes.
"Everybody here is very nice,'' McKay said.
Neighbors said the boy is a student at Queens Intermediate School.
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