ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A 12-year-old boy was injured when a bullet came flying through a bedroom window and struck him, the child’s grandmother said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was called to the shooting in the 5600 block of Pine Chase Drive on Sunday morning.
Phyllis Reed said she was with her grandson Javen Maldonado shortly before noon when someone started shooting outside her apartment.
“They just started shooting and the bullet came though my window,” she said.
She got down on the ground when the gunfire first started and told her grandson to do the same.
“He was in my room and I heard the last ‘boom boom boom’ I said, ‘Get down’ and when I said that he fell. He didn’t get down. And when I said ‘J,’ he didn’t get down and I looked over and he was hit,” Reed said.
She estimated that about 50 rounds were fired.
Reed is thankful her grandson is going to survive, but she’s mad about the person or people shooting at her Pine Hills apartment complex.
His family said he will remain in the hospital on Sunday night, but he will be OK.
“They kept shooting. They wouldn’t even let me out the front or the back door. I had to bust my back sliding glass door just to get him in the car to get him to the hospital,” she said.
Investigators spent hours Sunday afternoon lining the streets with evidence markers and searching the crime scene for clues.
Reed said her grandson is a rising sixth grade student in Orlando who has been staying with her for the past few weeks.
“He’s an honor roll student, a good kid,” she said.
As her grandson recovers from surgery, Reed said she hopes deputies find whoever is responsible for injuring the innocent boy.
“Why y’all out here doing things like this? Innocent people (get) hurt, families getting destroyed,” she said. “I wish they get caught.”
Deputies said Sunday afternoon that they have not identified any suspects in the case. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 407-836-4357.
No other details were released.
Stay with News 6 for updates.