OKLAHOMA CITY – A family of undocumented Honduran immigrants were chased down and shot at by three teens armed with BB guns in Oklahoma City on Monday, according to local news reports.
A neighbor reported the attack because the family was afraid to go to authorities themselves.
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The neighbor, who spoke to KFOR using only her surname, Quintero, said she arrived home with her daughters to see three teens run out from behind her house. She reportedly started to follow the teens until she noticed that they were armed with what appeared to her to be real guns.
Quintero said she checked her backyard and found a father hiding with his three children after being chased and shot at by the teens who were armed with BB guns. The father had been shot in the shoulder, his 11-year-old son in the arm, and his 6-year-old daughter in the leg, according to Quintero.
"I was terrified. I'm still terrified," Quintero told reporters. "The little boy was holding his arm. I said, 'Let me take you to the hospital, he's bleeding.'"
Quintero said the family refused to go to the hospital or file a police report because the father is undocumented, and they feared that he could be arrested and deported.
"You can be legal or illegal. It doesn't matter," Quintero said. "You cannot be victims of these crimes."
KFOR spoke to the family who declined to go on camera, but they did show reporters the welts they received from the BB guns, allegedly.
Immigration attorney Lawrence Davis told KFOR that he understands why the family fears speaking to authorities, but that Oklahoma City officers will not turn victims' immigration status over to ICE.