Heartbreak has struck a California family after nine-year-old Princeton Jones, an autistic boy, was shot and killed while playing outside his grandfather’s home in Compton.
The incident occurred at the corner of Haskins Avenue and Alondra Boulevard around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, leaving the community in shock.
Authorities are still piecing together the details of the shooting, with no information yet on suspects, vehicles, or possible gang connections.
The grieving family pleaded for answers in the wake of the tragedy.
“We don’t know any information,” Najee Ali, the director of Project of Islamic Hope, said to KTLA at a vigil Sunday night.
“But what we do know was that he was a nine year old innocent child who never should’ve been shot down in cold blood.”
She noted that “there used to be a time where women and children were off-limits to murder and gang violence. Unfortunately, those days are long over.”
Jones’ family described the young boy in an online fundraiser as “a beacon of joy, lighting up every room he entered with humor and infectious smile.”
“He was adored by his friends, family and community, who all cherished the incredible person he was becoming.”
The fundraiser goes on to say Jones was a “truly special young man with a brilliant mind and a warm heart” who was diagnosed with mild autism at the age of 2, and “worked tirelessly with the loving support of his mother and began speaking fluently by the age of 5.”
“My goal… was to give him the proper teachings and all of the things that he needed in order to navigate this world independently one day,” Jones’ mother, Creole Green told ABC 7.
“I’m just devastated that my son’s life… the door was shut in front of him at 9 years old.”
