Single father of 7 mourns ‘go-to’ son
Channelview boy was shot to death inside own home after drive-by attack
At 11 years old, Kamren Jones was his father’s “go-to guy.”
One of seven siblings, Kamren routinely woke the younger ones up for school and even though he wasn’t the eldest, he was always a leader, said his father Kenyatta Jones.
“Being a single father, I needed that,” he said.
The entire family had been sleeping at their Channelview home the 15100 block of Brentwood earlier this week when bullets started flying through the walls.
Around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, gunmen fired from the road into a room Kamren shared with three siblings. Gunfire, part of “a high number of shots,” hit and killed him, authorities said.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said he didn’t know whether the family was the intended target. He said deputies have had issues with possible criminal activity at the home in the past. Kenyatta Jones said he and the children just moved in last month.
“I’m just coming to grips with not having my son and not being able to take him to the gym with me,” he said Wednesday, describing Kamren as a gifted athlete.
Kamren excelled in football and soccer at Crenshaw Elementary, his father said. More recently, Jones started taking Kamren to the gym with him. He wanted to see if his son was going to take working out seriously.
“And he did,” Jones said. “He went hard with me. So my next move was to add him onto my membership, but we didn’t get to that point.”
The night of the shooting, Jones said he initially thought the gunfire was someone banging on a window on the home.
“We didn’t know we were being shot at,” he said.
Later they found his car and the home riddled with bullet holes, he said. Jones was renting the home, but he said the family likely won’t live there anymore.
The children range in age from 5 to 15 years old. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family pay for funeral costs and other expenses.
In a statement, Channelview ISD said the school district “family is heartbroken over the loss of our student, Kamren Jones. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to Kamren’s family, and we ask our community to support and pray for them during this incredibly difficult time.”
Gonzalez described the shooting as senseless, sad and tragic. It happened a few hours before hundreds of people paraded down Houston streets in honor of 4-year-old Maleah Davis, who captured the attention of the city and nation after her disappearance last month. Her remains were found in a field near Hope, Ark.
“To the ones who did this, they are cowards, and we’re going to go after them,” Gonzalez said on Sunday.