Then I look down the fence in the back of my townhome complex and there is a young boy - maybe 12 years old - holding a pistol.
No, it was not a plastic cowboy six shooter.
And it wasn't the big ol' water blasters that soon will be all over the place when summer hits.It looked like this.
The kid was pointing it toward the top of the fence where some doves were sitting. He saw me and pulled it down right away. I stopped my truck and looked right at him. He looked at me and then darted between two parked cars and squatted down.
He thought I would just drive on by. I didn't.
So he got up and holding the big ol' pistol next to his side walked very quickly toward his townhome. I followed and he kept looking back. I went very slow waiting for him to go into one of the units.
He ducked under a partially raised garage door and down it went.
I got out and rang the doorbell and pounded on the garage door.
There's just something not right about a 12 year old with a pistol - whether it's an air pistol or a real gun - standing by himself in the middle of Houston aiming at birds. And he knew he was doing something he shouldn't because he ran and hid.
Hell...there's something wrong with this on so many levels I'm at a loss as to where to start.
So finally after I shouted "I am not leaving and I am calling the police" the garage door opened and his father stepped out with his cell phone against his head.
I am not being racists or profiling here - I am stating facts. His father slurred something like "what do you want" in a very thick Middle Eastern accent - and for some reason he seemed angry at me!
I said, "Do you realize your son is down by the fence with a pistol shooting at birds? Do you know how illegal this is? Do you realize he could not only harm himself but shoot someone else? Do you want this kind of trouble?"
He never got off his cell phone. He snapped, "I'll speak with him" and walked in and shut the garage door.
I have no problem with kids being around guns when an adult is supervising, being taught to hunt, being shown proper usage of guns. But a 12 year old with no adult supervision shooting at doves sitting on a fence that separates my complex with another townhomes complex in the middle of Houston on a Friday evening and parents who couldn't care less about what he's doing smells like trouble to me.
As the door went down, I informed him that I was calling the police to report this. If the father had seemed the least bit concerned about his son with a pistol and a neighbor coming to his door with the idea of calling the police, I might have thought - "Well, dad will take care of this."
I didn't think that. I don't think that. And I called the police.
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