By Dan Verbeck
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-995528.mp3
Kansas City, MO. – A quarter million dollar, cash only, bond is being asked to jail a man accused of shooting a child who had been asleep in her bed. The Jackson County Prosecutor is at a loss to explain the shooting.
Kansas City Police accounts say the ten year old girl awoke in her mother's bed, middle of the night November 15th to see a man she knew holding a gun, then felt a pain in her hand. The girl was sleeping in bed with her mother in their home near 19th and College.
Police say 21 year old James Davenport, Jr shot twice at the girl's mother and missed. A third bullet hit the girl.Police evidence technicians say they recovered two bullets from inside the mattress, another from the frame around a wall mirror.
Prosecutor Jean Peters-Baker says the element of reasoned thinking is missing from this case. In her words, "I can't tell you why he would choose to handle any kind of dispute in this way. It doesn't make any sense. And that's often the case about domestic violence. Whatever the dispute was about, the behavior does not correspond."
The child recovered from the 9 millimeter bullet wound in her wrist.
The prosecutor says Davenport faces up to 30 years in prison for first degree domestic assault, another 15 years for using a gun.