A Dallas man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of an 8-year-old boy in the jaw Tuesday evening at a Lake Highlands apartment complex.
Brian Cloninger, 46, was charged with injury to a child. He remains in the Dallas County jail on a $2.2 million bond.
The boy, identified as Donald Maiden, Jr., was shot in the parking lot of La Bella Palms apartments in the 9400 block of Royal Lane near Abrams Road. Witnesses told police Cloninger had been seen waving his gun at people before the shooting, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
A resident at the apartment complex went outside after hearing the gunshot. The boy bleeding was profusely, and Cloninger was standing beside his silver pickup truck. The man asked whether Cloninger shot the boy, according to police reports.
“Yes I shot that kid,” Cloninger told the witness, according to the arrest warrant.
Here is more from News One:
“He hit the ground when the guy shot him,” said grandmother Sharon Locklin. “Then, he got up and ran to the house and asked his mom for water, and his mom saw all the blood coming out.”
It was a scene that evoked his mother’s worst fears. “When he ran in, I just screamed,” said Latamarin Locklin, Donald’s mother. “His mouth was just hanging off and it was just a big hole,” she said. “ I just threw him on the couch and laid him in my arms and put pressure on his mouth with the towel.”
Donald’s parents say their son has a plate in his jaw. While he cannot smile, the boy can wink and nod his head in code when he wants something. After the swelling from his latest surgery goes down, many more surgeries are expected to follow.
So to be clear, is this simply a case of a bad playing outside being stopped by a good man with a gun?
Reports are that the man did not even live in the neighborhood, so what in the hell could have compelled him to just shoot an eight year old in the face?
I'm sure it couldn't have simply been his skin color, right?
The guy looks truly evil and would scare the hell out of me if I ran into him on a sidewalk! I hope his ass is nailed to the wall as I'm sick of young people being shot and/or killed for absolutely no reason!
ReplyDeleteOh - and, I'm white!
Anyone else hear "Dueling Banjo's" in their head looking at this guy?
DeleteIf there is any good part of the story, it is that this occurred in Dallas and they will nail his butt to the wall.
ReplyDeleteWhat planet are you from? This guy is white... they won't do anything to him. He was standing his ground.
DeleteThey charged him with injury to a child because it holds the greatest penalties under Texas Law, greater than manslaughter. He could get life.
DeleteElizabeth 44
I think this is more a case of mental health than race.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting on a combination of the two.
DeleteI do hope and trust he's charged more than with "injury to a child."
ReplyDeleteThere can be no --none -- never -- reason to shoot a child, in the face or anywhere else, unless the child is pointing a loaded gun at you and you are in imminent danger of being killed. Then, you try for his leg or another limb that isn't crucial to his survival, in order to stop him from shooting you. And that's only if all else fails. And then you call an ambulance and wait until it arrives.
Looks like attempted murder to me! Will he use stand your ground too? The boy might have had his hands in his pockets to get a gun or a pack of deadly Skittles.
Delete"...unless the child is pointing a loaded gun at you and you are in imminent danger of being killed".
DeleteEven if a child was pointing a loaded gun at me, I wouldn't be able to shoot the child. Maybe I'd shoot up in the air or better yet run like hell but not shoot a little child under any circumstances.
Wonder if that will be that sick creep's defense - that the child had (a toy) gun or a toy that looked like a gun so he was just standing his ground.
From what I have read elsewhere, "injury to a child" is a much more serious charge than attempted murder. A $2.2M bail is extremely high.
DeleteSo, be glad for the charge even though it sounds relatively minor.
I wonder how many Nazi symbols he has tattooed on his skin?
ReplyDeleteI saw that article yesterday, and could not believe that he only gets charged with 'injury to a child' instead of ' attempted murder', or 'assault with a deadly weapon'.
ReplyDeleteI guess, having a white ass helps. If he had had a black ass, he would have been charged like that - or other, equally high-prison-term offenses.
Poor kid, and poor mom...
I hope, they can get a high-priced lawyer working for them pro-bono if necessary, and the book will be thrown at that asshole.
10:34 -- Your fantasies are disgusting.
ReplyDeleteOMG! Is he going to claim exemption from prosecution via "stand your ground" or "preemptive strike"? If he goes to trial, will the media cover it as thoroughly as they covered the Zimmerman trial? How was this child threatening? Anything is possible in TX...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous10:34 AM
ReplyDeleteWhat he/she said!!!!!
11:17
ReplyDeletethank you,
apparently so are the "fantasies" of the pinheaded racist's that shot the child - you're not somehow related to him are you ?...
i usually save that "disgusting fantasy" for child rapists but this human piece of shit deserves the same
have a nice afternoon
I'm sure this fine upstanding Teabagger not only has a Concealed Carry permit, but a Super Deluxe Republican Time Travel doohicky. He obviously traveled to the future, saw this kid was going to do something to disrespect him, and decided to dispense a little preemptive Bush Doctrine. Good an explanation as anything else.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Col. John Chivington, "...nits make lice." (Sand Creek Massacre 1864)
11:17
ReplyDeleteand cloninger's motives were pure ?
I hope the community gets a fund started to help with medical bills, or the hospital lets the bills slide. This "man" is SICK. Too much of a coward to pick on a grownip, had to pick san innocent child. So now African American parents have to worry about their kids playing outside, as well as walking to the store for candy? I hope this child has a complete recovery, and the family can heal once the SOB gets what he deserves.
ReplyDeleteThat photo looks like Beaker.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.aspiringgentleman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/beaker.jpg
Gra*ma Banana,
ReplyDeleteThis is Texas not Florida and I do not believe they have a stand your ground law. He is in jail with a $2MM bond. This will not be trivialized. While he may be charged with injury to a child at the moment, I will bet the charges will be increased. The Dallas mayor is a Democrat as is Houston's, San Antonio's, Austin's and El Paso's. All Texas is not lawless like Rick Perry. Maybe not the next election, but the state is on the verge of turning blue.
Thank you for the clarification. That POS is one sic SOB!
Delete
ReplyDeleteI remember an interview with Michelle Obama and then-Senator Obama in which she said something like 'he could be killed getting gas for our car because he's black.' 60 Minutes interview a long time ago. It was almost shushed up by media, but we know it's true.
I love them so much, and I pray almost every day for their protection.
That is the dirty little secret that many Americans don't want to face up to--that being black in America can be hazardous. The danger to Black Americans has ratcheted up since Pres. Obama was elected due to many on the Right using race-based tactics to demonize blacks. When anyone mentions racism, someone on the Right always steps up and says that it's democrats who are the racists. There are some racists in the Democratic Party, but we police our own, GOPers don't. They sit and watch all of the racist things members of their party do/say and pretend that it's not happening. That they have the stones to witness the racism and then say that they're not racist always pisses me off. They may not be engaging in the racist behavior themselves, but they're giving their consent to others in their party to engage in the odious behavior. If Cloninger watches Fox News and/or consumes other types of RW media, I can understand why he shot this little boy. He has been constantly bombarded with lies about President Obama and other blacks, and he has probably come to believe it. I'm seeing more and more people on the right describing Black Americans as inherently violent. This is nowhere near to being true. I have five brothers, and none of them have ever been imprisoned for any crime, and neither had my dad, but the RW politicians, Fox News, and other RW media have convinced millions of Americans to think of us as subhumans who are not worthy of any respect. In America, the land of the free and the nation where equality is supposed to be one of our major principles, not all of us are viewed the same way. This is why when I hear someone on the right refer to America as an "exceptional" nation, I cringe, because it's a lie. Citizens in a really exceptional nation don't treat some of its' citizens as second hand rejects the Lord created.
Deletemajii, I so hear you. I've worked with the most amazing people, some of whom are black, and the idea that someone can be targeted simply because of skin color is abhorrent to me. But the stories I've heard from these friends are horrific - and these are highly educated, highly placed persons. A country cannot be exceptional, but individual people can definitely be exceptional.
DeleteI feel for the black and brown people in America and detest the racism we are seeing since President Obama was elected.
DeleteSarah Palin started the trouble when running in the second position on the McCain ticket. She's the most evil and racist we have in our country and some day will be made to pay for it - either in life or death/hell! Thank god they lost!
I voted for President Obama both times and marvel at his resolve when all he gets is negative and obstruction no matter in what direction he goes. I trust him more than any president I've lived under and I'm 71.
Now, we see Republicans talking impeachment for which they have zero cause! What friggin' jerks!
I just pray that people vote as many of them out of office as possible in the next election cycle - McConnell especially! Let votes count and not the money the Republicans will put behind their candidates nationwide.
Remember, President Obama has beaten them twice in spite of all the crap they've thrown at him and in spite of the money. It was our individual votes that put him in the deserved top spot in America twice!
Republicans are also putting laws into effect to obstruct black and brown voters in certain states. Hopefully, lawsuits will overturn their new laws.
Tragic. What could possibly motivate that man to shoot an unarmed 8 year-old boy? The defenseless are the new targets now. When is this going to stop?
ReplyDeleteAs soon as deadly weapons can be kept out of the hands of STUPID, ADDLED, IGNORANT, INBRED, BIGOTED, MOUTH-BREATHING, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS, MORONS LIKE BRIAN CLONINGER.
DeleteSorry, stories like this make me SO angry.
For those of you who are as offended as I was at the apparently minor charge, I read elsewhere the same thing that 1smartcanerican posted at 1:02.
ReplyDeleteUnder the oddities of Texas law (and who isn't shocked at that?) this charge is actually a more serious felony than attempted murder and bail could be set much higher. It appears that the DA made the right decision in this case and I have no doubt additional charges will come as the investigation continues.
In the meantime, we can hope that this innocent young boy makes a full and speedy recovery.
What, other than race, could possibly be the motivation in this hateful man's mind? He obviously isn't crazy because he calmly admitted to shooting the boy. I wonder what cable news program he watches, what radio shows he listens to, and which family in Alaska or Arizona is America's last white hope?
ReplyDeleteThis poor child is suffering and will have a long road to recovery, along with a visible reminder every time he looks in the mirror that a White person held so much hate against him for no good reason whatsoever.
white? check. male? check. shaved head? check. chinless? check. southern? check. pasty face? check. fat neck (obese)? check. christian? don't know yet but most likely- check.
ReplyDeleteok, call me a profiler.
You forgot small penis.
Deletehttp://www.justmugshots.com/texas/austin/652908
ReplyDeleteprevious dui
“He hit the ground when the guy shot him,” said grandmother Sharon Locklin. “Then, he got up and ran to the house and asked his mom for water, and his mom saw all the blood coming out.”
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine the horror that poor mother must have felt, seeing her 8 year-old son in that condition. I hope the little guy fully recovers in time.