Inset: Anaya Zachary (KRIV/YouTube). Background: The playground in Baytown, Tex., where Anaya Zachary was fatally shot (KHOU/YouTube).
A 14-year-old girl in Texas was allegedly gunned down by a classmate of hers — with cops saying he shot the teen two times in the back as she tried to run away from him and two more times after she fell to the ground — following a verbal dispute on their school bus.
“He went home, put on all black, put on a black mask, and came back and called my baby’s name and he shot my baby four times,” Anaya Zachary’s godmother, Sonya Stanford, told local NBC affiliate KPRC last week about the girl’s shooting death on March 21 in the city of Baytown, which is about 25 miles east of Houston.
“She tried to turn around and run and he shot her twice in the back,” Anaya’s cousin, Janet Zachery, told the ABC affiliate KTRK. “And then when she fell, he shot her two more times,” Janet said.
The 13-year-old suspect, who has not been identified by police due to his age, allegedly got into a heated disagreement with Anaya on their school bus earlier in the day. The children attended Baytown Junior School, part of the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (CISD).
Stanford told local CBS outlet KHOU that the boy allegedly threatened Anaya before the shooting.
“I was told that he told Naya, ‘When I get out the bus, I’m going to kill you today,”” Stanford alleged. She said that after getting home from school that day, Anaya asked her if she could go outside to see her “little sister” and play at a playground in their apartment complex.
“She never told me about an altercation or anything,” Stanford recalled.
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Joseph Zachary, Anaya’s father, told KHOU that the details surrounding the altercation between his daughter and the shooter are not clear at the moment.
“They’re telling me it’s a school thing, I’m not sure what it is,” he said. “But I know I came here yesterday and my child was dead laying in the parking lot.”
According to a press release from the Baytown Police Department, officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 4600 block of Village Lane on March 21 after receiving reports of a shooting at the playground. “Upon arrival, they found a female teen near the playground with a gunshot wound,” cops said. “Officers immediately began life-saving measures until medics arrived, and she was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased.”
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A female bystander who was at the playground with her child — and had been holding her baby at the time of the shooting — also sustained an injury from the fired rounds, according to BPD officials. “Both the female bystander and her baby were taken to the hospital for evaluation and were later cleared of any injuries,” cops said.
The teen suspect was located and taken into custody at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was being held on a charge of murder Monday. The case remains under investigation as cops probe whether anything else may have led to the shooting.
“This tragic incident has deeply affected our community,” said BPD Chief John Stringer in a statement last week. “Our officers responded quickly, providing aid and securing the scene. As we continue to investigate, our thoughts are with the victim’s family and all those impacted by this senseless act of violence. This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and the severe consequences that violence can have.”
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