The child survived the January 2025 shooting, and his mother is now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to attempted murder.
DEER PARK, Ohio — The first public account of the shooting came from a shaken man who entered a residential garage and found a 12-year-old boy wounded in a car beside his unconscious mother.
It was shortly before 3 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2025, when the man called 911 from a home on Glenway Avenue in Deer Park. He identified the woman as his girlfriend, Briasha Stroud, and said he believed she had shot her son. The caller also told the dispatcher that Stroud appeared to be overdosing. He asked for emergency medical help as he tried to describe a scene he had only just discovered: Stroud in the driver’s seat, the boy in the passenger seat and both suffering from gunshot wounds.
The caller said he had been inside the house and had not heard a shot. When he went into the garage, he found the boy with an apparent wound to the head. He reported that Stroud was unconscious and foaming at the mouth and said he did not know whether she had taken pills. His statements were observations made during an unfolding emergency, not a full account of what had happened before he entered the garage. No publicly released report indicates that he witnessed the shooting.
The dispatcher focused on the child’s immediate condition. The caller said the boy was breathing and was “kind of moving,” according to audio obtained by People. He was directed to place a cloth over the wound and apply pressure while police and paramedics traveled to the home. Those instructions continued until responders arrived. The call documented the urgent effort to keep the child alive, but it did not explain why he had been shot or what Stroud had done in the moments before she was found.
Police later said Stroud shot the boy in the back of the head while they sat in the car. She also had a gunshot wound to her chest. Investigators and prosecutors have described the incident as an attempted murder followed by self-inflicted harm, though public reports have not provided a complete forensic reconstruction. Officials have not said who owned the firearm, where it was recovered inside the vehicle or whether any other weapon was found. Those details were not needed for the public emergency response but may have formed part of the criminal investigation.
Deer Park Police Chief David Battin said Stroud and the child were both taken to a hospital in critical condition. Stroud survived her injuries. The boy survived as well, but prosecutors later said his medical condition remained severe and unstable. During a June 2026 hearing, they described the injuries as life-changing and said the child would not be able to resume a normal life. Authorities have withheld his name and have not released a complete description of his treatment or prognosis.
The initial investigation quickly became a felony case. On Feb. 3, 2025, reports citing court records said a Hamilton County grand jury had indicted Stroud, then 28, on one count of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault. The indictment shifted the matter from an emergency investigation to a formal prosecution. Stroud was taken into custody after leaving the hospital and remained at the Hamilton County Justice Center while the case moved through Common Pleas Court.
The boy’s connection to Amity Elementary School brought the consequences of the shooting into the local school community. The Deer Park School District told families that the injured student attended Amity and said counselors and mental health professionals would be available. The district did not identify him or offer medical updates. That response allowed school officials to recognize the distress among students and staff without disclosing private information about a minor.
For much of the following year, the public record provided few new details about the child. Court proceedings addressed Stroud’s detention and mental condition, while medical information remained limited. A judge kept her bond at $500,000 after her lawyer sought a reduction in April 2026. Reports also referred to competency proceedings. A competency review determines whether a defendant understands the case and can work with counsel; it does not decide whether the person committed the offense or was legally responsible at the time.
Stroud’s defense also tried to pursue an insanity-related position, WLWT reported after the plea hearing. That effort did not succeed. The available reporting does not include the contents of psychological examinations, the opinions of evaluators or a detailed judicial ruling about her mental health. Without those materials, it would be speculative to attribute the shooting to a particular diagnosis, crisis or motive. Authorities have not publicly offered another explanation for the attack.
On June 9, 2026, the case returned to open court for a decisive hearing. Stroud pleaded guilty to attempted murder before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh. In entering the plea, she gave up the right to require prosecutors to prove the offense to a jury. The judge accepted the admission and found her guilty. A Reuters Connect image supplied by the USA Today Network showed Stroud being led from Marsh’s courtroom after the proceeding.
Prosecutors used the hearing to connect the guilty plea to the lasting consequences first set in motion during the 911 call. They said the child had been shot at point-blank range and remained seriously impaired. One prosecutor challenged any description suggesting that the boy was simply doing well, saying his condition was far more serious. Reports from the hearing included references to life support, unresponsiveness and limited signs of brain function, though officials did not release underlying medical records that would permit an independent assessment.
The state also warned that the case could take another legal turn if the boy’s condition worsens. Prosecutors said they could pursue a murder charge if he dies from injuries caused by the shooting. Such a charge would depend on future facts and a determination that the death was legally connected to Stroud’s conduct. No murder charge is currently pending, and prosecutors said they hoped the child would survive.
Judge Marsh set sentencing for July 23. WLWT reported that the expected prison range is 11 years to 16½ years. At sentencing, the court may hear arguments about the offense, the child’s injuries, Stroud’s background and any other information allowed under Ohio law. Public reports have not said whether the 911 caller, other relatives or school representatives will participate. They also do not state whether Stroud intends to speak before the sentence is imposed.
The passage of time has changed the legal status of the case, but the essential facts remain rooted in the emergency call. A man found a child alive but gravely injured, followed a dispatcher’s instructions and waited for responders. That intervention was followed by hospitalization, an indictment, extended court proceedings and finally a guilty plea. What remains unknown is the motive behind the shooting and the full measure of the child’s future medical needs.
Stroud remains in custody awaiting sentencing. As of July 13, no official announcement had changed the July 23 hearing date, and no new public update had resolved the uncertainty surrounding the boy’s condition. The criminal case is approaching punishment, while the consequences first described to a 911 dispatcher continue for the child and those caring for him.
Author note: Last updated July 13, 2026.