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An 8-Year-Old Dallas boy is in a hospital recovering after a 46-year-old man shot him the face while he was playing a game of tag outside his apartment complex. Donald Maiden Jr., who just celebrated his birthday last Sunday, was shot this past Tuesday (September 3) by Brian Cloninger – and police still have yet to determine a motive.

Several news outlets in the Dallas metropolitan region picked up the story, and according to the Dallas Morning News, Cloninger was seen waving his handgun at random people the morning of the shooting. Around 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Cloninger shot Maiden in the jaw and the paper further reported that a man who lived in La Bella Palms apartments approached the shooter. According to the police reports, Cloninger told the resident, “Yes, I shot that kid.”

Reporters from CBS 11 News followed up with Maiden’s parents as their son heals from surgeries while in ICU. DJ, as the family calls him, cannot communicate verbally and had a plate inserted where his jaw was shot off.  He also faces additional surgeries once the swelling settles down. The boy’s father was away at work when the incident happened.

“When I first saw him in ICU I started crying,” Donald Maiden, Sr. said. “I just put my head down in his bed and was holding his hand at the same time. And he opened his eyes. And when I raised back up I looked and there were tears rolling down his eyes and it gave me a little bit of spirit in my heart. It was joy, I guess he was kind of happy to know I was there. “

Cloninger is currently being held on a $2.2 million bond.

A video report from CBS 11 hosted by Crooks and Liars appears below.

Photo: Dallas Police Department