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On Wednesday, January 22, a 12-year-old boy in Connecticut was shot multiple times after he playfully threw a snowball at a passing car. The incident took a frightening turn when the occupants of the vehicle chased down the boy and his 11-year-old companion. Shockingly, one of the individuals in the car proceeded to fire multiple shots at the children. Thankfully, the boy managed to survive the ordeal, although he sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
According to NCB Connecticut, the police reached the incident site in Hartford at around 7:15 p.m. The location was Capitol Avenue and Park Terrace. At the scene, they discovered an 11-year-old child who was unharmed and a 12-year-old who had been shot multiple times. The authorities promptly rushed the injured child to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, as reported by PEOPLE.
According to WSFB, Lieutenant Aaron Boisvert stated that the boy’s injuries were not life-threatening and expressed relief that the situation could have been much worse.
“[A] 12-year-old was with another juvenile, throwing snowballs, one of those snowballs hit a car, that car looped the block and chased the kids and fired rounds at the children,” Boisvert told local media.
According to FOX 61, the local police are currently investigating the incident. No arrests have been made yet, and it is unclear how many individuals were inside the car that fired at the two minors. The authorities have obtained surveillance camera footage and are actively pursuing the investigation.
Local Reactions
Garfield Haylett, a local restaurant owner, recounted his experience of the incident to WSFB. Initially, he mistook the sounds of gunshots for back-firing noises from a vehicle. However, he quickly realized that the noise he heard was indeed gunfire. Haylett, who is also a parent, found the sight of a 12-year-old being shot deeply unsettling.
“We can’t have this happening in our community. It’s not good anywhere… Why do we have to live like this? I don’t understand it,” Haylett said. “To put bullets in a child, it’s really disturbing.”
Nick Lebron, the director of the Catholic Charities Community Schools program, expressed his disappointment over the incident. The 12-year-old involved in the program, whose name remains undisclosed, was described by Lebron as a joyful and hopeful individual, much like any other young person.