Dallas

Child Shot in the Face Comes Home for Christmas

Just in time for Christmas, 9-year-old DJ Maiden is back home. This comes just days after yet another reconstructive jaw surgery.

Maiden was shot in the face in September 2013 while outside his apartment in Northeast Dallas.

Brian Cloninger, police said, confessed to the shooting, but the motive is still a mystery.

“I just tell him to pray and thank God that he's still here with us, and that everything's going to be OK,” said the child's grandmother, Sharon Locklin.

Now, this Christmas, along with presents Maiden is opening cards. While they aren't Christmas cards, they still convey a merry message.

“To DJ, from Fabian, get well soon,” reads Maiden from one card.

The third grader has had four different surgeries and now doesn't have to eat through a feeding tube.

He’s back at school and catching up on all the time he missed. There is still more work to be done, and at some point in the near future he’ll need dental implants.

“He found a picture they gave me for Mothers Day, [and] he said, ‘Will I ever look like this again, granny?’ And I'm like, ‘Yes, we're working on it. Hopefully one day you will,’" said Locklin.

On this Christmas, though, his family wants one thing for the resilient child.

“The one thing we want is for him to be happy. That's what I want this Christmas, for him to be happy,” Locklin said.

As DJ’s cards show, that wish is shared among folks all over North Texas and the country.

“I want you to know that we are thinking of you and praying for you,” the child read from another card.

A trial date for Cloninger is expected soon after the new year.

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