Mom of teen shot to death files a lawsuit against apartment complex
Baytown - A Houston area mom says her 16-year-old son would still be alive if not for what she calls "the negligent acts" by the apartment complex where they lived.
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Yosha Hamilton has now filed a lawsuit against the owners of The Park at Sorrento Apartments in Baytown. Hamilton says dozens of violent crimes in the complex were ignored by management and her 16-year-old son Shane Hamilton was shot and killed in January 2023 right at the family’s front door.
"We heard the shots go off, and it was him," says the mom in mourning.
Hamilton was disrupted by the sound of gunfire as she cooked dinner that night in January. Then she found Shane shot on their front porch. Not only losing her son, she also had to watch him die.
"It’s hard, very hard. Sometimes I don’t know if I can go on," Hamilton says through sobs and wiping tears.
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It happened at 3400 Shady Hill Drive at the Park at Sorrento Apartments in Baytown where the family lived. Hamilton has now filed a lawsuit against the owners, she says for failure to put proper safety measures in place. Just before the 16-year-old was shot surveillance video shows a pickup driving in.
"The gates were open and at some point, a black truck came into the complex, and it’s believed that the people in that truck were responsible for this shooting," explains Hamilton’s Attorney Mo Aziz.
According to police records, there was another shooting in the apartment complex in December 2022 and Aziz says in the last three years there’s quite a call history to 911.
"More than 100 calls for violent type of incidents, carjackings, home invasions, sexual assaults, and prior shootings," he says.
"When you put profit over people these are the things that happen," adds Hamilton’s Attorney Kim Spurlock. Spurlock and Aziz say apartment management held meetings with residents who were asking for changes.
"Some basic security such as working gates, security cameras, off duty police officers. None of that was provided despite prior incidents," says Aziz.
"They assured and reassured these tenants that they were going to get these things fixed, and they never did. They told them there were budget issues," adds Spurlock.
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Hamilton wants her son to be remembered, not for how he died, but for the way he lived. "He loved football and basketball. He loved his family. He was a good student and a good son," says Hamilton.
The person of interest once named in the case is no longer a suspect. Baytown police are still searching for the person who shot 16-year-old Shane Hamilton and for the reason he was shot. A representative for The Park at Sorrento Apartments in Baytown told me they have no comment.