Welcome back from the longest holiday weekend of the year. The good news tonight is that there isn't too much bad news. There was only one report of gun violence - and no reports of gang violence in the city. So it was in some sense, ALMOST that safe and blessed Easter we all wished for.
But, still, the four day weekend wasn't without its share of trauma: there were three fatal accidents and a toddler shot in a bizarre attack in tiny St. Margaret's village. We start off with that St. Margaret's shooting. It happened on Sunday night after 8:00 at the family house on Rancho Lomas Farm just outside the village.
Courtney Weatherburne went there looking for answers as to who shot Jose Navarrete Jr. and why:
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
3 year old Jose Navarrete Jr. was restless this morning at the hospital. He wanted to watch his favorite you tube video. But no video nor his toys could make him block out the pain in his leg and back.
He and his father, Jose Navarrete Sr. were shot in front of their house on Sunday night. They had just returned from a church function in Armenia when someone shot at them.
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"My first son was going to go and open the door when my husband and the baby was following. I was the last one with my next daughter when I heard the gunshot and then I ask what happened, because I was a little bit far from them and I ran and see what was happening. I ask my husband what has happened and he said that he stand up on something. I told him that it was a gunshot and when I saw my son he was bleeding. My daughter and my son was bawling. My husband hurry opens the door and we went in and we lock ourselves in. We didn't see anyone, because it was dark."
Navarette says no one was around so she called a relative to take them to the hospital. It was the most grueling wait, watching her baby boy bleeding and in pain.
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"Like I got in shock. I can't even cry. The only thing I say, I said God help me and take care of my baby. Don't let my baby die. That's was the words that I was repeating, because only God could help us. At that moment that was my only words."
And they did get help, they arrived at the hospital in time and both father and son have been receiving treatment. Navarrete says the pellet is still lodged in little Jose Jr's leg but he will survive.
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"Up to now everything is going well and the doctor says the only thing that left to do is do an ultrasound to see if the bullet on his feet need to come off or leave out there. My husband is okay, just his hands is kinda of swell."
Who would target this family? Navarrete's guess is as good as anyone else's but she says it may be related to a previous incident with another Rancho Lomas Farm worker who worked with her husband. But that is just a theory.
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"We are not sure who could it be, because we didn't see anyone, but it's kinda hard to say. There are many people that we could never expect. Sometimes we say they are our friends, but at the end we don't know. One thing I say, there is a God that will do justice and that's what I am doing is leaving everything in God's hands. We are not going to do anything. Justice, God will do it, not us."
Reporter
"Do you have any issues with anybody in the village or outside the village? Anybody that you believe is after you or your family or your husband in particular?"
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"No, I don't think so, because we are people that don't have problems with no one."
Reporter
"What do you think is behind it?"
Erminda Navarrete, Mother
"Just a person that had a problem in the farm. He was a worker there and he had to leave the farm, because of a problem and maybe could be that. I don't know. We are not sure."
It was a close call for these parents and their young children but fortunately they survived this sinister attack.
Police say they have one person detained and that CIB officers are on the ground investigating.
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