1-Year-Old Hit by Bullet: ‘This Shouldn’t Happen’

1-year-old hit by bullet: While a 1-year-old boy was being fed in his California home, a gunman open fire and hit him in the neck with a bullet.
1-Year-Old Hit by Bullet: ‘This Shouldn’t Happen’
A screenshot of an ABC video shows the apartment where the boy lived in Richmond, Calif. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Jack Phillips
3/29/2013
Updated:
4/3/2013

A 1-year-old boy was struck by a stray bullet during a shooting in Richmond, Calif., on Thursday.

The boy, named Elijah, was inside a home in the Iron Triangle area in Richmond, a city that is located just west of Oakland, when he was hit by the bullet, reported ABC-7. A gunman sprayed the street with bullets in the afternoon on Thursday.  

“You have a 1-year-old child who was literally in the arms of the grandparents,” Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus said, elaborating on the shooting. “They are feeding him and bullets come into the house.”

Elijah was later rushed to Children’s Hospital Oakland for emergency surgery. Authorities said he was struck in the neck.

The father of the boy, Rosshan Ali, was at work when the boy was hit. 

“This shouldn’t happen, my son didn’t do nothing to nobody, I didn’t do nothing to nobody,” Ali told ABC. “I go to work and come home you know. And it’s not my fault I live in a certain area.”

A man who was on his bicycle was also hit in the incident. He was taken to a local hospital and is said to be in good condition.

“(His) condition is less critical than initially thought,” said Magnus, reported the Contra Costa Times. “We’re putting everything we have into this case.

“This is tragic,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, with the Richmond Improvement Association, according to the paper. “Imagine being at work and getting a call that your infant son has been shot.”

Lt. Bisa French told the Times that there was “one intended victim” in the shooting and police are looking to see if the attack was gang-related.

Police Capt. Mark Gagan said Thursday afternoon that the boy’s condition was stable, but that doctors planned to keep him at the hospital for at least a night.

Police say the baby was with his grandparents when he was hit by a stray fragment of a bullet fired by an as-yet-unidentified shooter in the street outside the apartment building.

The department plans to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
twitter
Related Topics