Mother of Fatally Shot 3-Year-Old Faces New Charges

Police add two charges of endangerment due to a weapon police say was accessible to children in her car

NBC 5 News

The mother of a 3-year-old boy fatally shot in Dallas on March 28 is facing additional charges.

Dallas Police said Tuesday they charged 26-year-old Lacravivonne Washington with two additional charges of endangering a child on Monday.

"The charges stem from a gun being accessible to a child, and a child unrestrained in a vehicle," police said in a statement.

Washington was charged with tampering with physical evidence last Thursday after police said she concealed a handgun she owned during the investigation into the death of her son.

The day before, on March 30, Washington was charged with endangering a child due to the fact a weapon was accessible to a child in her vehicle.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5, Washington told police that she was involved in a road rage incident on Monday as she left a business with her three children, all of whom were unrestrained in her car, and that 3-year-old Jalexus Washington was shot in the face during the altercation.

Police said Washington signed a consent form at the hospital allowing police to search her vehicle for evidence. They said she stated there were no firearms in the vehicle, but while searching the vehicle for evidence of the road rage incident, police found a handgun in the glove compartment.

Investigators later learned the gun was one of two that had been purchased on March 4 by Washington. The second gun was not found in the car or in a search of her home, police said. It was later determined to be in possession of her husband.

During a subsequent videotaped interview at the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, police said Washington waived her Miranda rights and gave a voluntary statement where she said during the road rage incident she reached for her handgun in the glove compartment twice but never pulled it out. She said during this time her children were freely moving from the front to the back seats and that she then heard two gunshots, the first of which she said sounded far away.

Police said the investigation into the road rage story stalled after officers were unable to locate a crime scene. According to the arresting document, police said they found no evidence of a road rage incident.

Additionally, according to the boy's autopsy referenced in the affidavit, there was unburned gunpowder residue on his body, indicating the gunshot that killed him came from close proximity and ruling out his being shot by someone in a passing vehicle.

Police have not released any additional information about how the boy was shot.

Washington is currently in the Dallas County Jail on bonds totaling $50,000. It's not clear if she's obtained an attorney.

Police are asking for anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact Homicide Detective David Grubbs, #9159, at 214-671-3675 or by email at david.grubbsjr@dallascityhall.com. Please reference case number 053933-2022.

NBC 5's Sophia Beausoleil contributed to this report.

Contact Us