Dallas 8-Year-Old Shot by White Neighbor Struggles to Recover
He is getting physically stronger, but suffers the emotional consequences of the shooting.
No 8-year-old
should live in fear for his life, with nightmares that keep him awake
all night. But that is a daily occurrence for Donald Maiden Jr., known
as D.J., who was playing tag outside his Dallas apartment complex when
he was shot in the face by a neighbor last September.
There was seemingly no reason for the attack by 46-year-old Brian Cloninger, a white man, who told police
“he wanted to” when asked why he fired on the black child.
The little boy, who spent weeks in the hospital hooked up to machines
and breathing tubes, is now, thankfully, physically improved. After the
shooting, he had a metal plate and wire mesh to hold his damaged jaw
together.
“We’re doing much better,” his mother, Monique Locklin, told The Root. “A lot better. He’s doing well.”
D.J. still has a tracheotomy tube in his neck to help him breathe,
and is due for a reconstructive surgery on March 10, but he is
functioning as normally as anyone could expect an 8-year-old who was
shot for seemingly no reason to function.
“He goes to school, he still plays outside,” Locklin said. “Light
playing, but he still does everything pretty normally like he would
before.”
His March surgery is also expected to be his last for a while, although more operations are in his future as he grows.
“As his face enhances he’ll have to keep on getting it fixed,” his mother said.
Physical well-being aside, however, the toll that the shooting has
had on D.J.’s mental health has been severe, to say the least.
“He’s afraid that [Cloninger] is going to get out of jail [and come
for him] … or that he’ll hurt somebody else,” Locklin said, saying that
D.J. goes to therapy once a week. “He has nightmares almost every night.
He won’t sleep alone, and he wakes up almost every night crying because
he has nightmares.”
Even though he remembers the terrible incident, D.J. doesn’t really
like to relive it much, his mother says. His family and siblings remain
supportive, only bringing it up when he wants to talk about it.
“You know kids. Once something happens they push it to the back and keep moving,” Locklin said.
His mother is, however, prepared to put the third-grader on the stand
to testify against his shooter if need be, to ensure that Cloninger
remains behind bars.
“I want him in jail, that’s where he needs to be,” said Locklin, who
is currently in contact with the district attorney’s office.
“We don’t know when the trial is going to be, but he’s still in
custody, and they said maybe sometime around the summer they should
probably be able to proceed to the trial.
“I just want to see him get punished to the maximum, and I just want
justice for what he did, because it really was unnecessary and just
cruel. I don’t want him to be able to be free so he could do that to
someone else,” she added.
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State District Judge Larry Mitchell raised the bond Wednesday
for a man accused of shooting an 8-year-old boy in the face in
September.
Brian Cloninger, 46, must pay $1 million cash or a $5 million bond if he uses a bail bondsman.
Cloninger will have an opportunity Monday at a hearing to convince a judge the bond should be lowered.
Mitchell had previously lowered the bond
from $2.2 million to $1 million after Cloninger told a judge he had
limited finances.Cloninger’s attorney asked that the amount be reduced
to $25,000.
But Wednesday, Cloninger was prepared to post bond on his injury to a
child charge. If convicted, Cloninger faces up to life in prison.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said after the hearing
that Cloninger was a danger to the public and should be behind bars
awaiting his trial.
“In our estimation, this guy should not be let out in public,” Watkins said.
The child, Donald Maiden, Jr., was shot in the parking lot of La
Bella Palms apartments in the 9400 block of Royal Lane near Abrams Road.
Witnesses told police Cloninger had been seen waving his gun at people
before the shooting, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Donald's grandmother. Sharon Locklin, said the family was “very
satisfied” by Mitchell's decision. “We're just happy with the outcome,”
she said.
A resident at the apartment complex went outside after hearing the
gunshot. The boy bleeding was profusely, and Cloninger was standing
beside his silver pickup truck. The man asked whether Cloninger shot the
boy, according to police reports.
“Yes I shot that kid,” Cloninger told the witness, according to the arrest warrant.
Watkins declined to say how any case against Cloninger might proceed.
But he said “we expect that this defendant will have his fair trial.”
Watkins has visited Donald in the hospital, said Watkins' top
assistant Heath Harris. Harris, the first assistant district attorney,
said Watkins encouraged Donald to keep up with his physical therapy and
do what the doctors tell him.
Harris said Donald will need reconstructive surgery on his face and had teeth knocked out by the bullet.
Locklin said her grandson is doing “pretty good” considering his injuries.
The boy's mother, Monique Locklin, declined to comment Wednesday, but
she has said that her son is fearful that Cloninger might be released.
Prosecutors have said in court that they believe Cloninger had been
drinking before he shot Donald at the boy’s Lake Highlands apartment
complex.
At the time of the shooting, Cloninger was on probation for a 2012
DWI in Travis County. He was charged in 2002 with driving under the
influence in Palm Beach.
Cloninger was not allowed to consume alcohol while on probation. Police found a beer can in his truck after the shooting.
Police said Donald was outside his Lake Highlands apartment complex
looking for his bike when Cloninger shot him. Donald recently returned
home after a month-long hospital stay.
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Brian Cloninger
Staff Writer Lucy Sosa reports: A Dallas man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of an
8-year-old boy in the jaw Tuesday evening at a Lake Highlands apartment complex.
Brian Cloninger, 46, was charged with injury to a child. He remains in the Dallas County jail on a $2.2 million bond.
The boy, identified as Donald Maiden, Jr., was shot in the parking
lot of La Bella Palms apartments in the 9400 block of Royal Lane near
Abrams Road. Witnesses told police Cloninger had been seen waving his
gun at people before the shooting, according to an arrest warrant
affidavit.
A resident at the apartment complex went outside after hearing the
gunshot. The boy bleeding was profusely, and Cloninger was standing
beside his silver pickup truck. The man asked whether Cloninger shot the
boy, according to police reports.
“Yes I shot that kid,” Cloninger told the witness, according to the arrest warrant.
Maiden remains in critical but stable condition after undergoing
surgery at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, according to Dallas police.
Family friend and neighbor Dundra Moffit said Maiden is “doing fine.”
