Posted by PBSpot Admin 

CBS News 11 in Dallas, Texas is reporting that an 8 year old African American boy was shot in the face while playing a game of “tag.” The youth, “DJ” or Donald Maiden, Jr., was shot by a Caucasian man who simply said “Yeah, I shot that kid” according to witnesses.

DJ’s mother, Latamarin Locklin, recounted, “When he ran in I just screamed. His mouth was just hanging off and it was just a big hole. I just threw him on the couch and laid him in my arms and put pressure on his mouth with the towel.”

His father, Donald Maiden, Sr. said “When I first saw him in ICU I started crying. I just put my head down in his bed and was holding his hand at the same time. And he opened his eyes. And when I raised back up I looked and there were tears rolling down his eyes and it gave me a little bit of spirit in my heart. It was joy, I guess he was kind of happy to know I was there.”

The shooter, 46 year old Brian Cloninger, was driving a pickup truck and had been seen loitering around the apartment complex where DJ lived.

There is a $2.2 million dollar bond for Cloninger, but no motive has yet been pinned pointed, leading most to conclude this was a hate crime.

(Article by Shante Wooten)