New information revealed in a court document filed last week explains why Dallas police charged a woman with manslaughter after her son was killed in an alleged road rage incident last month.
Lacravivonne Washington, 26, arrived at Medical City Dallas with her son, 3-year-old Jalexus Washington Jr., March 28.
The boy’s mother informed police that he was shot in the head during a road rage encounter after she and her 3 children left a Dallas doughnut store. Washington told investigators that her three children, ages two, three, and four, were unrestrained in her vehicle at the time of the alleged incident.
Dallas police discovered a weapon in Washington’s car while investigating the road rage allegation, despite her claim that there were no weapons in the vehicle.
Washington apparently agreed to waive her Miranda rights and told officers that she reached for her weapon twice during the road rage encounter but never managed to pull it out. She stated that her children were shifting around in the vehicle when she heard 2 gunshots, the first of which was heard far away.
Dallas police said their investigation found no evidence of a road rage incident and no crime scene where the woman claimed the shooting occurred. Furthermore, the boy’s autopsy revealed unburned gunpowder on his body, implying that the gunfire that killed him happened in close quarters, ruling out the possibility that he was shot somebody in a passing car.
Janiyah Washington, Washington’s 4-year-old daughter, told investigators during an interview that her mother had given her father a weapon while they had been at the hospital, according to the affidavit obtained Monday.
A different witness, who was nameless and protected in the arresting report, stated that he saw the woman show up at the hospital with the injured child and then see her conceal something under her shirt while by the car.
Following his arrest for tampering with evidence, Jalexus Washington Sr., the wife’s husband, asked a detective to talk to him. This is what happened.
Police say the man informed them that when he came to the hospital, he talked with his wife beyond the presence of police. She informed him that whenever the “road rage” gunman was shooting at her, she fired back at him and then saw that her son had been shot. Before giving him the gun, she asked him to conceal it. He said he put the weapon in his pocket.
The gun recovered from Jalexus Washington Sr. was the same gun used to kill the boy, police said.
Police said she “recklessly killed” her son because she said she grabbed the gun multiple times, told her husband she fired it, and because it was her gun that was found to have killed him.
Lacravivonne Washington is charged with manslaughter and two counts of endangering a child. Bonds totaling $60,000 have been set. It’s unclear if she has a lawyer.
