HOUSTON — The family of a the little 3-year-old shot in the head back in April is now suing the apartment complex for negligence.
The Lane family had just moved into the apartment, after years of being homeless, when their daughter Helena was shot just outside the home.
It’s the smile they’ve been waiting almost a month to see.
“And she’ll wave at me, and smile real big. I was trying to get a video seeing her like that, it was just making me cry, seeing her like that," Fredrick Lane said of his daughter Helena.
Speaking to us through an interpreter, Fredrick and Martha Lane, who are both hearing impaired, say their daughter Helena is doing well. She’s just been moved to a rehab hospital.
“She’s doing great. She’s moving. She’s eating. She’s able to swallow," Fredrick Lane said.
Helena was shot in the head when someone opened fire outside her apartment back in April. Now staying in a hotel, the family finally moved out of The Palms at Cypress Station, two days ago.
For them, it’s a huge relief.
“It just felt like a release. It felt so good. I’m happier now," Fredrick said.
More than $60,000 was raised for the family. The majority of those donations are going towards purchasing a them a mobile home in Pasadena. The rest will go to buying a new car and other bills.
But today, they’re taking legal action against their former apartment.
“If they’re going to benefit from taking these people’s rent, they should provide them with a secure home," Mo Aziz, their attorney and partner with Abraham Watkins Law Firm said. “Nobody from the apartment complex has reached out to them. Nobody has said hey, how’s your little girl doing? Can we help in any way?”
Aziz says it’s Texas law that if a property owner knows there’s violent crime on their premises, the owner must provide security, which he says this complex did not do.
“It’s basically negligence on the management and the ownership of the apartment complex for not providing adequate security for its tenants," Aziz said.
He says they’ve pulled the numbers from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and says over the past three years, there’s been 81 reports of gunfire, 41 assaults and nearly 2,500 calls to police.
“Which equals to more than two per day," Aziz said
So they’re suing for two things: financial help with Helena’s care.
“We’re going to have to set up nursing care for in home," Fredrick said.
And for the apartment complex to do it’s job.
“And security at the apartment is so bad so I want to see new security there. I want to see security that actually drives around, and that watches the property and doesn’t just sleep on the job," Fredrick said.
KHOU 11 News reached out to the apartment complex, but they declined to comment on the lawsuit.