Southern California man convicted of shooting into home, paralyzing 7-year-old girl

A 27-year-old Oxnard man has been found guilty of a 2019 shooting that injured a pregnant mother and paralyzed her 7-year-old daughter, officials announced Monday.

According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, on July 2, 2019, Jaylin Edwards and another man who was 17 at the time shot at a home in Port Hueneme where they believed a man they were looking for lived.

However, inside the home lived a family of five, who officials say were sitting in their living room at the time.

An investigation revealed that at least 8 of the 12 gunshots fired hit the home, three of which struck the family members inside.

The 7-year-old girl was shot in the head, officials confirmed, and her pregnant mother was hit twice – once in her foot and once in her thigh. Police later identified the daughter as Kaylanaa Davis, and the mother as Maryam Davis.

Kaylanaa was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and later airlifted to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital where officials say she spent three weeks in a coma.

After three months in the hospital, authorities report Kaylanaa returned home – but the young girl was left paralyzed on the left side of her body and has permanent cognitive impairment.

Maryam was also hospitalized that night and required surgery to treat her gunshot wounds, but officials say she was released the following day.

Controversy surrounded the incident because of a delayed emergency response the night of the shooting. Officials addressed their handling of the crime in a press conference the day after.

“The father physically picked up the child and ran to the fire station down the street," said Port Hueneme Police Chief Andrew Salinas. “Unfortunately, the fire department was unresponsive and did not come out.”

The Ventura County Fire Department later released a statement saying they were investigating the circumstances surrounding their emergency response that night and talking with firefighters to determine the facts.

The first arrest in the investigation happened about five months later, reports show, when Port Hueneme Police arrested the 17-year-old, identified as Anthony Silerio of Oxnard.

From this arrest, investigators reported finding only one of the two firearms used in the shooting, but overall the evidence collected led investigators to Edwards. 

A warrant was issued for Edwards’ arrest on Nov. 1, 2021, which police say led to a month-long manhunt before Edwards was arrested in the Inland Empire that December.

Nearly three years after his arrest, the DA’s office says Edwards was convicted on Nov. 15, 2024, of attempted murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm – all of which are felonies.

The DA’s Office notes that the jury also found true all special allegations, including causing great bodily injury (GBI) and personal and intentional discharge of a firearm causing GBI.

“Edwards also admitted to additional aggravating factors of the crime involving great violence, being armed with and using a weapon, engaging in violent conduct, and that the victims were vulnerable,” the DA’s release states.

Officials say Edwards is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2025 and faces a maximum of 73 years and 4 months to life in state prison.

The DA’s Office says Silerio was charged in juvenile court for the shooting and his case is pending in juvenile court.