‘Whole lot of gunshots’ left toddler hurt

Eric Leake

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Two-year-old Da'Marion Kennedy was in the wrong place at the wrong time -- standing by a couch in his family's North Las Vegas home -- when suddenly there was "just a whole lot of gunshots coming from the front," said Da'Marion's 16-year-old aunt, who asked that her name be withheld.

"I grabbed them, both my niece and my nephew. I put them in the bathroom on the floor. After the gunshots, he started whining like something was wrong. My mom said lift up his shirt to see if he's OK.

"And that's when we saw the bullet hole," she said.

Da'Marion was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, which improved Wednesday to serious. Nobody else was injured in the shooting.

Family members said at least seven shots were fired at the North Las Vegas home on Saber Drive near Martin Luther King Boulevard Tuesday night about 9:30. Two bullets tore through the front wall. One put a divot in the living room carpet and one struck Da'Marion.

His aunt said the bullet looked like it entered on one side of Da'Marion and came out the other.

"The paramedics were taking too long so we were going to drive him to the hospital," his aunt said. On the way to the hospital she flagged down a police car, she said, and waited with the officer until an ambulance arrived.

The boy's family also complained that they lack confidence in the North Las Vegas Police's efforts to find the person who shot the little boy.

Witnesses told police they saw the shots fired from a white Chevrolet Caprice, police said.

Da'Marion's aunt said the boy is doing better but is not yet his usual, playful self.

"He's very happy, active, always running. He's a very happy baby," she said. "He's fine now. They took him off the breathing machine. ...He was just lying there."

She said she had no idea why anyone would shoot at the house or have reason to target the family that has lived in the house since January. She said it was the act of cowards.

As she spoke in the home Wednesday evening, she said she was fearful the shooters could return.

"They could," she said. "We don't know if they're going to come back or not."