DALLAS — The parents of a three-year-old boy who was fatally shot earlier this week in Dallas County have been arrested in the investigation, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released by police.
Jalexus Washington died at Medical City hospital in North Dallas on Monday.
His mother, Lacravivonne Washington, 26, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of endangerment of a child, a second-degree felony, police said Thursday.
In an update Thursday night, police said Washington was also charged with tampering with physical evidence after she allegedly tried to conceal a handgun she owns in the investigation.
The father, Jalexus Washington Sr., was arrested on outstanding warrants and a charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon.
While police are still investigating how the shooting happened, an affidavit released Thursday gave more information into their investigation.
Detectives said that while Lacravivonne Washington claimed the shooting happened during a road rage incident. No evidence of road rage was found.
An autopsy found that Jalexus Washington was shot at close proximity, "ruling out being shot by a passing vehicle," according to the affidavit.
The young boy died Monday after his mother had taken him to the emergency room at Medical City, telling hospital staff that her son was shot by an unknown person, the affidavit said.
Police responded to the hospital and interviewed Lacravivonne Washington. She told police that she was leaving a business in her vehicle that morning, with her three children inside the car, when a road rage incident happened, according to the affidavit.
Washington told police that she drove away from the vehicle and later stopped near Forest Meadows Park in the 9100 block of Arbor Park Drive.
At that time, she told police, the other vehicle returned and shot at them, the affidavit said. She told police that she saw her son had been shot, so she drove him to the hospital.
Detectives searched Washington's car and found a handgun in the glove box "where the children could easily reach it," the affidavit said. Washington confirmed to police that her children were not restrained by seatbelts in the car and "moving freely around in the vehicle," the affidavit said.
Washington told police she heard two gunshots during the alleged road rage incident. But police said investigators later found no evidence that a road rage shooting happened.
Investigators also learned that Lacravivonne Washington, his mother, had bought another handgun around the same time the handgun found in her vehicle was purchased. The second handgun was not found at her home or inside her vehicle.
Police later arrested her husband, Jalexus Washington Sr. – who said he was at work when the incident happened – on a charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon for the second handgun, according to the affidavit. He told police the gun belonged to his wife and that he did not know where it was when the incident happened.
More information about Jalexus Washington Sr.'s involvement in the case was not released in the affidavit.
Lacravivonne Washington was arrested on the child endangerment charge because her children were unrestrained in the care and had "a firearm accessible" to them, the affidavit said.
Washington remained in jail Thursday with her total bond amount set at $25,000. She also faces charges on outstanding warrants for speeding and failure to use a child safety seat for a child under the age of 8, according to jail records.
Jalexus Washington Sr. was not listed in Dallas County jail records Thursday.
Police have said they received conflicting stories about what happened in the shooting incident.
In news releases, police said Lacravivonne Washington was seen with her children at a donut shop in northeast Dallas at about 9:38 a.m. on Monday.
At 9:57 a.m., the mother and child arrived at the Medical City emergency room, where the boy died.
Police are still investigating what happened between the time the mother and child were seen at the donut shop and when they arrived at the hospital.
Anyone who saw Washington's vehicle during that time is asked to call police at 214-671-3675. She was driving a 2011 dark blue Subaru Legacy with paper tags, police said.