Father speaks out after New Year's Eve shooting that injured him, one-year-old son

As police in Mesquite continue to search for whoever’s responsible for a New Year’s Eve shooting that hospitalized a father and his one-year-old son, that father is speaking out.

“My son’s life was a half an inch away from being taken from me and that’s not anything I would wish on my worst enemy,” said the man who asked not to use his name.

He said just before 7 p.m. on Sunday, he held his one-year-old son in his lap as he fed him dinner at his mother’s kitchen table on Springwood Drive.

He heard a boom and first thought he’d heard fireworks.

Then he realized he’d been hit.

As he tried to stop the bleeding, he heard family scream.

“I could hear my family in the master bedroom yelling, ‘Help, help. The baby’s been hit. The baby’s been hit. Help, help. He’s bleeding. He’s bleeding.’ My heart sank at that moment and skipped a beat and you know, my worst fear came true. Hearing those words, I knew it was not going to be good,” he said.

Both were rushed to the hospital where the father was told the bullet came within a half-inch of an artery in his neck. He said a CT scan showed it went on to graze his son’s skull.

Thursday, he shared pictures showing his son eating and enjoying cartoons back at home.

While he said both have recovered well, he can’t help but reflect on how lucky they are.

Police are still looking for the gunman who they say is seen in video the department released earlier this week.

They believe the driver of a vehicle that was also shot, and not the family, was the intended target.

Still, without an arrest, the father said both his family and neighbors in Creek Crossing Estates remain on edge.

"The fact of the matter is they're still out there in a neighborhood that for the longest time my family and I have considered to be safe,” he said.

Investigators are still working to determine a motive for the shooting. Anyone with information about what happened that night is asked to call Mesquite Police.