Kennedale teen accused of shooting her grandmother who was holding 2-year-old
KENNEDALE, Texas - A 17-year-old is in custody after police in a Fort Worth suburb said she shot her grandmother and fired at officers.
It happened around 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday at the Alta Landing Apartments in Kennedale.
Police said they got a call from 17-year-old Jazlyn Renfro threatening to shoot someone inside their apartment.
Jazlyn Renfro
When officers arrived, they found the teen's grandmother with the teen's 2-year-old brother on the apartment balcony.
"We were hoping we were just going to have the grandmother come out with the toddler and have a conversation and find out what’s going on and, of course, it took a totally different turn," said Kennedale Police Chief Mike Holguin.
Police say the grandmother reached the bottom of a stairwell apartment exit and that's when Renfro fired, striking her grandmother in the back. Her 2-year-old brother was not injured.
"As soon as they heard the first gunshot, they wanted to take action. The door came open, we believe the victim opened the door. Thankfully, the officers were able to try and start to extract her from that doorway," said Holguin
As they were trying to remove the grandmother and the 2-year-old, the suspect continued to fire at the officers.
Chief Holguin says it's unclear exactly how many times Renfro fired the weapon, possibly as many as three shots.
That's when a stand-off began, which ended quickly.
"We started setting up the barricade in a typical barricaded person situation, and we still haven’t had a chance to have a conversation with the suspect, but she eventually, by her own fruition, gave up. She came out, put her hands up and surrendered," the chief said.
The grandmother was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition.
The chief says there were three officers on the scene. No officers were injured.
Two of them discharged their weapons during the exchange.
Those involved in the shooting will be placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
"Based on the preliminary information gathered at the scene, there is no doubt that the officers placed themselves in harm's way to protect an innocent woman and a child while taking fire from the suspect who was shooting at them from the top of a stairwell. Without the officers' swift and courageous actions, we may have had additional gunshot victims or a homicide. These officers truly acted heroically," Chief Holguin said.
Renfro is expected to be charged with attempted capital murder, aggravated assault on a family member, and aggravated assault on a peace officer.