A California family is devastated after a nine-year-old autistic boy was shot dead while playing outside his grandfather’s home.
The young boy, Princeton Jones, was shot at the intersection of Haskins Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Compton on Saturday around 7:40 p.m. KTLA reports.
Details about the shooting remain scarce as police have not yet said if there are any leads on a suspect, a vehicle or if the incident may be gang-related.
The family was left begging for answers.
“We don’t know any information,” Najee Ali, director of Project of Islamic Hope, said at a vigil Sunday evening.
“But what we do know is that he was a nine-year-old innocent child who should never have been shot in cold blood.”
9-year-old Princeton Jones was shot while playing outside on Saturday around 7:40 p.m
Jones was outside his grandfather’s home at the intersection of Haskins Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Compton
She noted that “there was a time when women and children were off limits to murder and gang violence.
“Unfortunately, those days are long gone.”
Jones’ family described the young boy in an online fundraiser as “a beacon of joy, lighting up every room he entered with humor and an infectious smile.”
“He was adored by his friends, family and community, all of whom cherished the incredible person he was becoming.”
The fundraiser goes on to say that Jones was a “truly special young man with a brilliant mind and a warm heart” who was diagnosed with mild autism at the age of 2, and “worked tirelessly with the loving support of his mother and became fluent speak. by the age of 5 years.’
“My goal … was to give him the right lessons and all the things he needed to one day navigate this world on his own,” Jones’ mother, Creole Green told ABC7.
“I am devastated that my son’s life… the door was closed on him at the age of 9.”