There's a reason it's illegal to fire a gun in city limits (Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a year in jail and a $4,000 fine). There's no telling whose head those celebratory New Year's rounds might fall upon, or which kitchen window might be breached during backyard target practice.
On Saturday morning, that window belonged to the family of a 9-year-old girl, who was standing in her kitchen in the 400 block of Yarmouth Street in Oak Cliff when police say neighbor Cristian Manzano's bullet struck her in the head.
The girl was taken to Children's Medical Center, where she remained in critical condition on Sunday. Manzano, 20, was arrested for injury to a child and discharging a firearm in a municipality with more than than 100,000 residents.
Manzano has had a couple of previous run-ins with police in Dallas, pleading guilty to possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance last year and, in a separate case, unlawful possession of a black revolver police found in his waistband during a traffic stop.
He remains in jail on a $31,500 bond.
Maria Hernandez, who lives across the street from where Manzano was allegedly conducting target practice, told The Dallas Morning News she was "shocked" on Saturday to hear a volley of four or five gunshots in the typically quiet neighborhood, then see a young girl carted off in an ambulance.
"What are the odds?" she wondered.
In a densely populated urban area? Pretty low, but high enough for Texas to have passed a gun regulation.
Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
