Bullet may have stolen boy’s dream to become policeman
by Luke Davis on Jul. 22, 2008, under Local, Special8-year-old in critical but stable condition
Cesar Omar Peña
Josefina Miranda has lived in her South Side home for the past three decades.
It’s been a safe home – until last week.
On July 14, Miranda’s 8-year-old grandson, Cesar Omar Peña fell from the old blue swing after he was shot in the head with a bullet from a .22-caliber rifle.
He is in critical but stable condition at University Medical Center.
Miranda said Cesar is paralyzed on his left side, but his right hand holds the hands of family members who visit.
He smiles, speaks and nods when spoken to. Doctors say he may get better with time and rehabilitation.
“May God forgive them,” Miranda said of the person who fired the gun.
Miranda said she became aware of the incident after Cesar’s 5-year-old brother ran into the house yelling, “Someone killed my brother.”
Elma Esquer, a neighbor, was washing dishes at the time of the incident.
“My son turned to me and said, ‘Mommy, it’s a firecracker,’ ” Esquer said.
Miranda said she first thought Cesar had simply fallen and hurt himself. When paramedics arrived she realized his wound was from a gunshot.
It’s unknown when Cesar will be released from UMC.
But it will be awhile before he can start school again at Drexel Elementary. Relatives say he could miss a year of school.
“It will be a long time before he gets better,” said Delia Escalante, Cesar’s aunt and a volunteer at his school. “It will be very difficult.”
It may also be difficult for Cesar to become a police officer when he grows up.
A picture inside Miranda’s home shows Cesar dressed in police blues.
“Cesar wanted to be a policeman,” Miranda said. “But that (was) probably taken from him now, in his childhood.”
Jonathan Jessie Muniz, 18, who is accused of shooting Cesar, is being held in Pima County Jail on charges of felony aggravated assault and felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Bail is set at $250,000, according to court records.
Muniz told police he was shooting at a chair and trying to scare the boys, according to court documents.
Muniz is a former Sunnyside High School student who withdrew from the district’s nontraditional S.T.A.R. Academic Center earlier this year, said Monique Soria, Sunnyside Unified School District spokeswoman.
Miranda said this wasn’t the first time gunshots were fired.
“For three days before this happened, (Muniz) was out here shooting birds,” she said. “I took the boys inside because of that, and the first moment they were back outside for just a second, Cesar was shot.”
It’s not known if Miranda called police when she first heard shots the days before the incident.
Cesar’s family is in the process of setting up a bank account to accept donations to offset the costs of his medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Donations may be dropped off at Drexel Elementary School, 801 E. Drexel Road.
Grandmother Josefina Miranda was sad as she spoke of the day her grandson Cesar Peña, 8, was shot in the head while playing on a swing in the backyard.
