Victims Identified in Fire near Lake Cherokee

GREGG COUNTY — The mother of a toddler who died Tuesday in a fire north of Lake Cherokee has identified the child, two of her other children injured in the fire, and the children’s father — and she says the surviving kids are going to be all right. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, Tasha LaShell Holland said 3-year-old Ayden Bounds was the boy who died in the fire Tuesday afternoon on Victorian Oak. Holland said Bounds, who had moderate autism, was “the sweetest little boy you could ever meet.” Lilly Bounds, 1, was taken to a hospital in Dallas. Jacob Bounds, 4, was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview. The children’s father, Thomas Bounds, was also injured in the fire while getting the children out of the home. The extent of his injuries is not yet known.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Gregg County Fire Marshal, Gregg County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Josh Tubb said Wednesday morning. Tubb noted investigators had been working since the fire to find out what happened. Tubb said firefighters were dispatched at 2:37 p.m. Tuesday to the fire, which occurred at a house in an area north of Texas 149 between Lakeport and Easton. Elderville-Lakeport Volunteer Fire Department, Tatum Fire Department, Gregg County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeport Police were on the scene Tuesday.