Man arrested after toddler is shot in head while sleeping in New Orleans apartment, NOPD says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A sleeping 3-year-old boy was struck in the head early Sunday (Aug. 6) by a bullet shot through the wall of an adjacent apartment in New Orleans East, police said.

The juvenile victim is hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said. New Orleans police arrested 22-year-old neighbor Javonte Shelton in connection with the shooting.

The NOPD said Shelton was “dry firing his weapon” inside his apartment when he discharged a round through the wall, striking the sleeping boy in the adjacent apartment around 12:19 a.m. The shooting occurred in the Walnut Square Apartments in the 8500 block of the North I-10 Service Road, near Crowder Boulevard.

Records show Shelton was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail at 9:42 a.m. on single counts of second-degree battery and obstruction of justice. Online court records indicate this is Shelton’s first arrest in Orleans Parish as an adult. His bond was set Sunday afternoon at $55,000.

Police said the victim “was asleep in bed when a shot was fired through the wall from an adjacent apartment and struck the victim in the head.” The NOPD said the victim was taken for hospital treatment by New Orleans EMS personnel.

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