‘Where can you be safe?’: 9-year-old boy shot at Gastonia home, police say

GASTONIA, N.C. — A 9-year-old boy is still recovering after he was seriously hurt in a shooting at a Gastonia home Friday night, according to police.

The shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. at a home on West Fourth Avenue, near West Garrison Boulevard. The 9-year-old was where most children his age would be on Friday night -- at home with family. But in his case, he nearly lost his life.

According to the Gastonia Police Department, someone fired shots outside the home. They said one of those bullets went into the house, hitting the boy in the face. Neighbor Robert Knight told Channel 9′s Ken Lemon when something like this happens to someone so young, it hurts the entire community.

“Pray, and just pray for a better day, a better world,” he said.

The boy is still in the hospital but he is expected to make a recovery. Meanwhile, police are trying to answer the same question so many are asking themselves -- who would do this, and why?

Knight lives just up the street and has grandchildren the same age as his young neighbor. He says children often play at the basketball hoop in front of the house -- even at night.

“It could be any one of them, know what I’m saying. It could have been somebody walking through and just got hit,” Knight said.

‘What if a bullet ricochets and hits one of my kids?’

Knight told Lemon that he was watching TV inside his home when shots rang out.

“I guess it might have been the kid’s parents or something. They pulled up and started crying. And, ‘Oh no, oh no,’ and they run down, it was probably about 15 police cars,” Knight said.

One neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said this shooting has made her think about her family’s safety and security. She said she’s not sure whether or not it’s time to move to protect her kids.

“I mean it’s scary,” the neighbor said. “It’s cops up and down the street and our driveway, ambulance, fire trucks and it’s just feet from our house. That’s a scary thought. What if a bullet ricochets and hits one of my kids or somebody in my house?”

Police said though they are actively working to identify a suspect in this case, there are none at this time.

‘The home is supposed to be a safe place’

Community activists told Lemon things like this shouldn’t happen. Finland Fair is part of the organization 101 Black Men.

“The home is supposed to be a safe place and if you can’t be safe at home, where can you be safe?” he asked.

The answer to that question -- nowhere, when there is so much gun violence, Fair said. Pastor Rodney Freeman of the Gaston Progressive Coalition agrees.

“It’s unexplainable,” Freeman said.

Both men work with community organizations that joined forces two months ago, working to stop gun violence among young people.

“All entities from the community working on the same purpose,” Freeman said.

“Certification so we can get in and do mentorship,” Fair said.

The organizations are also looking at a gun buyback program to get weapons off the street and help prevent shootings, like the one that threatened the life of the 9-year-old boy Friday night.

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