Probe opens over late response to shooting of Floyd’s grandniece

The Houston Emergency Center is investigating what may be a delay of several hours in the police response to the shooting of George Floyd’s grandniece, a 4-year-old girl, at her home in the city’s South Side on New Year’s Day.

The girl was asleep in her bedroom just before 3 a.m. in the family’s apartment in the 3300 block of Yellowstone Boulevard, when bullets struck her torso.

She suffered three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a punctured liver but is in stable condition, according to Tiffany Cofield, a close family friend.

The girl’s father, Derrick Delane, told ABC13 the girl’s mother drove her to the hospital, and that police did not respond to the apartment until 7 a.m., more than four hours after they called 911.

The Houston Emergency Center said it has opened an internal investigation into the call handling protocols and procedures that may have led to a late response time.

Preliminary information suggests that police were not notified of the shooting at the same time as paramedics, according to a statement from the Houston Office of Emergency Management.

“This is an active investigation being conducted within HEC and we want to ensure all calls we received regarding this incident are properly reviewed,” Robert Mock, director of HEC, said in the statement.

Police Chief Troy Finner said officers received a ShotSpotter notification near the scene of the shooting and noticed a large hole in the fencing of the apartment complex where the family lives. They went to investigate but did not find a crime scene or any victims, because the girl had already left for the hospital.

The girl is recovering “by God’s grace” but will remain in the hospital for at least a week, Cofield said.

She added, “She needs all the prayers that she can get because of the toll it’s going to have on her emotionally, mentally, psychologically. An adult wouldn’t be able to grasp the severity of that.”