Humble 19-year-old shot, hospitalized in accidental shooting

HUMBLE, Texas - An 18-year-old is in custody after officials say he shot his 19-year-old friend in Humble early Wednesday morning.

Humble shooting involving teen

What we know:

Early Wednesday morning, Lieutenant Roosevelt Berry Jr. reported deputies received an in-progress call from a home on Spring Brook Pass in Humble. When the deputies arrived at the scene, two teen girls in the driveway told them about the shooting.

According to authorities, a 19-year-old was accidentally shot during a late-night gathering by an 18-year-old. The victim and suspect were both visiting the home where the shooting took place.

The mother of the home had taken the teen to Memorial Hermann Hospital off East Sam Houston Parkway. He has since been taken to Memorial Hermann in the Medical Center by Life Flight, Lt. Berry says. He was last reported to be in critical condition.

Officials later said that the suspect went with the victim and the woman to the hospital, and he was arrested at the hospital. The suspect has reportedly been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Deputies went inside the home and found evidence upstairs showing some type of crime had taken place.

What we don't know:

Authorities have not said what possibly led up to the shooting.

Officials say the name of the suspect will not be released to the public at this time.

There are no details available about the gun that was used.

‘Not an accident’

What they're saying:

FOX 26 spoke with attorney and gun safety expert Ross Asher regarding the details of the case so far. 

Asher says a lot of firearm experts like himself have tried to take the word "accident" out of their vocabulary. 

"We don't want that attitude among people who have guns. Something like this was not an accident. It was negligence on somebody's part because somebody failed to do what they should have done," Asher said. "In this case, it could have been failing to secure a gun properly so that someone wouldn't get that gun who wasn't supposed to have it." 

Asher also broke down Texas law and shared a message for parents about the responsibility of keeping guns away from kids. 

"Prior to the age of 17, a child has to be protected from getting unauthorized access to a gun," he added. "Texas law says that if you own a gun, and you know a child is going to be in that home around that gun, you have a duty to keep that child from getting unauthorized access to that gun or else you can be held criminally liable."

What's next:

We talked to Asher also about the charges and how possible charges could be determined with the incident being called accidental. He tells us that it's going to depend on the suspect's mindset.

"A lot of times, you’re saying, ‘Did someone act with an intent to kill someone or an intent to do a serious body injury? Did they intend to do a certain level of injury, but they actually caused a greater level of injury? Did they maybe intend to simply scare somebody and, oops, somebody got hurt or even killed?’ All of those show different levels of mental state and the level of mental state in a criminal law has a lot to do with whether you charge somebody with one particular crime or with another level of crime." 

Crime and Public SafetyHarris CountyHumbleTop Stories