11-year-old shot in Brooklyn may have been part of group of kids playing with gun, police say
NEW YORK -- An 11-year old boy is recovering in the hospital from a gunshot wound, and police say he was with a group of friends and family when it happened.
CBS New York spoke with the boy's mother several times Tuesday. She was at her son's bedside. She said he's doing better.
Police said it appears a group of kids were playing in the hallway of a NYCHA building on Howard Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, when the 11-year-old was shot accidently in the arm, adding a gun was found in the back of the building.
"I was in the house and then I heard the shots and then I came outside ... in the hallway," a woman named Fantasya said. "I took him in the house and then I wrapped my sweater around his arm to stop the bleeding and I just put pressure on it."
Fantasya said she applied pressure on his wound and prayed.
"I was just praying ... 'God, don't let this boy die on me.' Just prayed like that, and he stayed alive. So I already knew, it was God. It wasn't me; it was God," she said.
She said she called 911 and alerted his family members as he continued to bleed.
The boy, who many describe as fun and energetic, was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where he is recovering.
"He had no reaction. He didn't cry. He wasn't sad. He was just scared but not for himself, for somebody else," Fantasya said.
Investigators could be seen gathering a piece of bloodied clothing and combing the area outside of the building.
Detectives said the boy was hanging out with a group of friends and his sister when, all of a sudden, a gun went off. It's still unclear whose gun it was and how it went off.
"He said, 'I have to lay down.' I'm tapping him for head, kissing his forehead, 'No, stay up,' and I felt like another arm just cover and it was just me and him," Fantasya said.
Fantasya said she leaned on her faith and used the life-saving skills her mother taught her to help save the boy.
"I wasn't scared. I kept praying. I felt like he was protected ... like, God was with us. He wasn't going to die," she said.
Police said there were a lot of teens around at the time of the shooting, and they're trying get everyone's story straight.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
