DALLAS (AP) — A Texas woman who said her 3-year-old son was killed in a road-rage shooting has been arrested on a child endangerment charge, police said Thursday.
Lacravivonne Monique Washington, 26, kept a handgun in her sport utility vehicle where it was accessible to her children, ages 2-4, who were unrestrained, according to a Dallas police affidavit.
The investigation began Monday when Washington brought her son Jalexus Washington to Medical City of Dallas hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. The child died, and the mother told police that he had been shot by an unknown person in a road-rage shooting.
Investigators found no evidence of a road-rage shooting at the location the mother specified. But they did find a handgun in the glove compartment of Washington’s vehicle, which had no child restraints, the affidavit said.
In a follow-up interview, Washington told police that her children were climbing back and forth from the back seat to the front when she heard two gunshots and found her son wounded, according to the affidavit.
An autopsy revealed that the boy had powder burns around his wound. That indicated that he had been shot at very close range and ruled out a road-rage shooting, the affidavit stated.
Washington could be sentenced to up to two years in state jail if convicted. She was in Dallas County Jail Thursday with a bond set at $25,000. Court records list no attorney for her.
