A Texas father was fatally shot in the parking lot outside of his apartment complex during a custody exchange with his ex-partner, according to police.
Jansen Pullom met with his ex-partner and her new boyfriend at the Azul Apartments in northwest Houston at about 10:20 p.m. on Monday, May 29.
During the custody exchange, Pullom and the boyfriend got into an altercation at which point the father was shot, according to ABC13.
The boyfriend then left the area with his girlfriend and the child, according to police. As of May 31, police have not announced whether any arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.
Getty
Sgt. Sidney Miller of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) told Fox28: “The victim lives here. The mother of his child showed up with her new boyfriend.
“The child was going to go back with his mother. During the meeting, there was an altercation between the new boyfriend and the victim, resulting in the victim being shot by the new boyfriend.”
Miller also told ABC13: “We don’t know if the altercation was outside the car and the baby was outside the car or if the baby was inside the car when the actual shooting occurred.”
He added: “We’re looking at surveillance video to get a better idea as to what happened. We’re also interviewing witnesses out here as well. This investigation is ongoing.”
There have been 32 victims of gun violence in Houston since May 1 this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings from across the U.S.
Damera Davis, a mother who lives at the complex, said she did not feel safe bringing her child home.
She told ABC13: “Our kids play here all the time. So to know there was a kid right there when it happened is kind of strange. We didn’t come back last night at all.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 2,391 homicides in Texas in 2021. When adjusted for the population, there were 8.2 deaths for every 100,000 people.
While Texas ranked highly in the number of homicides in the country in 2021, with only California having more, it does not rank as high when adjusted for population. When the adjusted homicide death rate is taken into account, Texas stands in 21st place in the entire U.S.
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama lead the nation in the homicide death rate while New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wyoming have the lowest.
Newsweek has contacted the HCSD for comment via email.