"You never know that it can hit that close to home," that's what mother Suwandu Peaks said when a bullet in a drive-by shooting hit her son.
The .25-caliber bullet entered her son's head directly between his eyes. At the request of the family, Eyewitness News is not releasing the child's name, but he told us what he did when the bullet hit.
"I fell, I jumped and ran. I was hollering my aunt's name then I ran into the house," the child explained. With blood streaming down his face, the young boy tried to call 911 himself. "I grabbed the phone I turned around and the battery fell out," he said.
Paramedics arrived and all he could tell them is, "I said I didn't want to die."
His mother, Suwandu Peaks explains, "I was just grateful that he had enough in him from going to church to say 'God, I'm not ready to die and do not take me,'" she said.
Peaks says she's also grateful for the outpouring of support for her family. It's only when she thinks of the teenager accused of shooting her son that anger gives way to disappointment. "I'm just praying to God that he will pray to God and ask him to help him for what he has done to a 9-year-old," she said.
While the child is home from the hospital the bullet is still lodged in his head. "They haven't removed the bullet yet because they're afraid that it will cause damage," Peaks explained.
For now that means no running or playing for the energetic nine-year-old who's eager to get back to school. His mother says he's destined for something great and we hope for happier times. "I'm beyond grateful. I can't even express the miracle that my son is here and it could've been another way," she said.
Sixteen-year-old Lensy Gill of Durham has been charged with the shooting. He's in Durham County Jail under a $2 million dollar bond.
