KCBD Investigates: Lubbock mother buries 12-year-old son, wrestles with unanswsered questions for accused 13-year-old shooter

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Isabel Mireles prays she can forget the way she found her son.

“I ask God to wipe away those memories because I don’t want to remember it,” Mireles said.

In July 2023, Mireles said she hugged her 12-year-old son, Jordan Rosales, for the last time.

“I remember him coming out of the room and he gave me a hug and he kissed me and he said, ‘I love you, Mom,’ and I said, I love you too and then he went to go play his game,” Mireles said.

Mireles said Jordan was playing a video game in his bedroom that Tuesday evening.

She said a couple of his siblings walked into the home and brought two friends with them.

Mireles said she did not want guests over that evening, but the two boys came inside the home anyway.

The police have only identified those boys as a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old.

Mireles said she knew the 13-year-old well because he came over often.

“He spends the night every night basically,” Mireles said.

Mireles said that night, the 13-year-old asked her an odd question.

“He said, ‘Hey, do you have any plastic gloves?’ And I said, ‘The only plastic gloves I have are the ones under the sink.’ I wasn’t sure what he needed them for, but we carry no weapons, nothing in our home, so I didn’t even think anything of it. He went to the kitchen and pulled out the box that I had and pulled out, I guess, a couple of gloves,” Mireles said.

Mireles said all of the children went into Jordan’s room, but moments later she heard a loud bang.

“All of the kids ran out of the room except for Jordan,” Mireles said. “Everybody was just screaming and screaming.”

Mireles said she thought they had broken the television, but when she ran to the room, she found Jordan still sitting in the chair, facing the television, but covered in blood.

Mireles said she looked at the television and saw a bullet hole, so she started to search Jordan’s body for a gunshot wound, but she said there was too much blood.

“I looked at my daughter and I said, ‘Who shot him?’ and she said, ‘He did,’” Mireles said.

Mireles said her daughter pointed to the 13-year-old boy who had already started to run.

Mireles said she called 911.

“I said, ‘Get here now’ and they were telling me to remain calm and stay on the phone, but I just hung up on them,” Mireles said. “I ran outside and I was yelling, ‘Somebody please help me!’ nobody helped me, nobody came.”

Mireles said her 15-year-old daughter, Alizae Rosales, pulled Jordan from the chair and into her arms where he took his final breaths.

“She had him in her arms through it all. She was trying to stop the bleeding, but he was already gone. I was the last person he looked at. He was just staring at me until he closed his eyes,” Mireles said.

Mireles said Jordan was facing the television and she does not believe he realized the boy was in his room, much less armed with a gun.

“It just took his life unexpectedly. He was just playing his game and he was playing with my nephew on Facetime, so of course his phone was right there, so my nephew was seeing everything behind him,” Mireles said.

Mireles said everything happened so fast that there was not enough time to warn Jordan.

Mireles said she has not had the chance to ask the 13-year-old questions about that night.

“I do want to know exactly what his plan was,” Mireles said. “What was he planning to do with the gun? Why did he even bring it to my home?”

Mireles said she hopes it was an accident because she said an accident would be easier to forgive.

As Jordan’s family wrestles with those unanswered questions, they have found a sense of peace through the messages they say Jordan brings them in their dreams.

“He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me in and hugged me and he said, ‘I miss, and I do love you Alizae,’ and I started crying and I said, ‘Don’t go’ and he said, ‘I’m sorry,’ and God took him back. My grandmother tells me all the time, that whenever you dream of him, he is right there next to you, he is watching you,” Alizae said.

Jordan’s family said while they never expected to visit him in a cemetery, they know his spirit lives on.

The suspect, in this case, is a juvenile, so the majority of the information is confidential.

The KCBD Investigates Team has confirmed the teen is charged with manslaughter, trespassing, and possession of a stolen firearm.

Just days before the shooting, a man reported to the Lubbock Police Department that someone broke into his car and stole his gun.

Police said the 13-year-old used that gun to shoot Jordan.

He remains in the Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center.

The Rosales family is working to raise money for a headstone for Jordan’s grave.

Click here to make a donation to their GoFundMe account.

Copyright 2023 KCBD. All rights reserved.