8-year-old boy is injured at home in drive-by shooting

An 8-year-old boy was shot early Thursday in a drive-by shooting at this Pine Bluff house. 
(Pine Bluff Commercial/Dale Ellis)
An 8-year-old boy was shot early Thursday in a drive-by shooting at this Pine Bluff house. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Dale Ellis)

An 8-year-old boy is reported to be in stable condition following emergency surgery after he was injured during a drive-by shooting early Thursday. According to police, officers responding to a reported shooting at 1:18 a.m. found Tylen Jones suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Jones was initially taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, where he was stabilized, and was then transported to Arkansas Children's hospital in Little Rock for surgery. Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. David DeFoor said that, after surgery, Jones was in stable condition.

"His wound is non-life threatening," DeFoor said. "After a while he'll be fine."

According to an incident report, the shooting occurred at 1205 W. 19th Ave., at the home of Sarah Jones and her two children. Jones told police Tylen and his 3-year old brother were watching television when she heard gunshots outside her residence and then heard Tylen screaming.

Jones told police that, at the time of the shooting, she and her two children were the only people in the house.

Crime-scene investigators found damage to the front window on the southwest corner of the residence and damage to an interior wall in the living room, the incident report said.

The report said Sarah Jones was taken to the Police Department for further questioning by detectives.

DeFoor said police are looking for a man he described as a "person of interest" in connection with the incident, but said the department would not release the man's name publicly.

"He is just a person of interest at this time," DeFoor said. "Until we've talked to him we're not releasing his name because it's entirely possible that he had nothing to do with this, but if we release his name now it will be all over the place and some people are likely to assume he's guilty."

Upcoming Events