SYRACUS, NEW YORK – A 10-year-old was shot early on Thanksgiving morning in the north side of Syracuse by a spray of at least 20 bullets that penetrated the front of a bedroom where he was playing video games with his cousin.
The 10-year-old will survive the physical effects of lead. Two rounds hit him in the hip and lower back, according to Jim Dooley, the uncle of the boy who raised him. The uncle predicted that the mental and emotional trauma would be long-lasting.
“He will always be scarred,” Dooley said. “When he hears a loud boom and things like that, he will react to it.” “We’ll watch it.”
The 10-year-old told Syracuse.com he didn’t want to talk about what happened. He spent about 12 hours in the hospital. Thursday evening, he was wearing a long-sleeved red shirt but kept one arm off the sleeves and walked slightly limp.
He also smiled when he said his favorite subject in school was science and that he was so excited to eat turkey on Thanksgiving. He said he loves to play Fortnite, the game he and his cousin were playing when the shooting happened.
The shooter fired a rifle into the house where the children were lying while playing around 3:25 a.m. on 1400 Street of Butternut Street. No one has been arrested.
Dooley was asleep when he heard the gunfire and ran downstairs to see the smoke in the bedroom, which he assumed came from bullets exploding through the rock panels.
Call 911 and try to take his daughter and nephew to safety. Police and an ambulance arrived and took the boy to the hospital.
The bedroom is covered with bullet holes. An international estimate was that 22 bullets were fired at the house. They smashed the TV and game system and settled into the back wall inches above the pillows.
Bullet holes dot the bedroom where a 10-year-old was injured while playing video games with his cousin on Thanksgiving morning. The boy will survive the shooting.
He said, “There is a bullet hole where my son sleeps with his daughter.”
Dooley said he had no idea if the home was targeted, and if so, why. Dooley and his wife are raising four children between the ages of 10 and 18 at home. Their house was the only one that was shot.
He said he heard of gunfire in nearby neighborhoods recently and wondered if that was the turn on his building.
Bullet holes dot the bedroom where a 10-year-old was injured while playing video games with his cousin on Thanksgiving morning. The boy will survive the shooting.
He said they moved away from taking over earlier this year after he lost his job at Radio Shack due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said it was a difficult year.
“We moved here because the rent is much cheaper. The people I spoke to said this block, Building 1400, was decent.” “It wasn’t fit at all. You only hear sirens every night and every night.”
Despite the shooting, Dooley and his family were still preparing their Thanksgiving meal and were preparing to sit down to eat at around 5 PM on Thursday. He said he and his family are in shock and find it difficult to feel gratitude on the holiday, but he also acknowledged that his nephew and family were lucky to have survived.
“It could have been much worse,” Dooley said. “Like way much worse.”
Bullet holes dot the bedroom where a 10-year-old was injured while playing video games with his cousin on Thanksgiving morning. The boy will survive the shooting.
Contact reporter Patrick Lowman at [email protected] or (315) 766-6670.
