15-Year-Old Shot in Katy Home While Teens ‘Showed Off’ Gun

KATY MAGAZINE NEWS

March 1, 2023

By Natalie Cook Clark

A 15-year-old male was shot by his 17-year-old friend when the pair were looking at a gun yesterday. The accident happened at a Katy home in Cimarron and the victim was life flighted to the hospital.

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A Shooting at a Katy Home

Around 5:00 a.m. yesterday Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a shooting at the 1000 block of Apache Falls Drive in Cimarron. Two teenage friends were showing off a gun when it went off.

The 15-year-old was shot in the chest by his 17-year-old friend. There was a third teenager involved who was unharmed during the incident.

The victim underwent surgery and is expected to survive.

Teen Arrested and Charged as an Adult

According to authorities, the 17-year-old had taken the gun over to his girlfriend’s house and was showing it off. Her father was at home at the time and not aware of the gun. Authorities don’t believe he will be charged.

Deputies arrested and charged 17-year-old, who they identified as Nathan O’rouke, with aggravated assault.

Authorities stress that a gun should be owned only for defense and never used to “show off” or to allow a minor the opportunity to be in possession.

This is a second gun-related accident to happen in Katy in February. Earlier in the month a 4-year-old was shot at his Katy Creek Ranch subdivision.

Houston-Area Has Highest Gun Accidents in Texas

According to Texas Children’s Hospital, more than half of gun-related injuries they see in children are accidental. They also say that Houston has the highest rate of gun-related accidents in the state of Texas.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the only way to 100 percent protect children from guns is to remove them from the homes.

However, if you do have guns in the home there are ways to protect your family from an accidently shooting.

Place the gun in a rapid code access safe or fingerprint-based safe.
Apply a trigger lock, place weapon(s) into a combination-based safe and store ammunition separately.
Guns should be locked at all times and stored unloaded, whenever possible. Simply “hiding” guns is not good enough.