A 9-year-old Alabama boy is currently in stable condition after being wounded in his legs this week during a highway shootout that left his teenage cousin dead. Authorities report that this marks the second time the child has been shot in the past year, leaving the community questioning how such incidents can occur.
The grammar school student was seated in the SUV’s middle row next to his 15-year-old cousin and an 18-year-old brother when the bullets began to fly on Monday, Jan. 15, around 3 p.m. on Alabama Interstate 65 at the Bay Bridge Road exit in Prichard.
The gun violence coincided with Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday, a day set aside for the remembrance of peace and service.
The young boy was flanked on his left by his brother and their 15-year-old girl cousin on his right when shooters targeted the 18-year-old. In the front seats were the boys’ mother — who was driving — and their aunt, who is the mother of the girl who was killed. A 4-year-old was sitting in the third row of the SUV. Neither of the adults or the pre-schooler was injured in the shooting.
Authorities say the targeted 18-year-old pulled out his gun and started shooting back at the other vehicle during the gunplay. The family drove the wounded children to a local hospital when the shooting ended.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch’s office has assumed the lead in the investigation, calling the incident a “rolling shootout.”
The older brother was taken in for questioning but proved uncooperative with law enforcement, refusing to divulge details surrounding the shooting despite hours of questioning.
Detectives have since charged him with reckless endangerment and tampering with physical evidence. He has been arrested and is currently in custody.
Burch told reporters this week the mother of the boys also has been little help.
“The driver who is the mother of the intended target and the mother of the 9-year-old who was shot — by the way the second time he’s been shot in a year — has been less than cooperative,” Burch said at a news conference covered by local station Fox 10 this week. “You would think you’ve got a child shot for the second time in a year — a 9-year-old — and then your niece who has been murdered … you would think you would want to be overly cooperative and help get the people responsible for this behind bars, where they can’t be a threat any longer.”
Authorities have not identified any suspects in the attack on the family, but they have noted their suspicion that the incident may be gang-related and are actively working to identify and apprehend those involved to address this issue.
“When you shoot in a manner where it endangers innocent people, we’re coming after you,” the sheriff said.
Burch further stated that this is not the first time that the child has been a victim of a shooting, noting he was in a drive-by in 2023 in Mobile, Alabama.
“Think of the environment this 9-year-old is living in, that this is the second time he’s been shot in a year,” Burch said, as McClatchy Media Network reported. “It’s hard to wrap your head around that.”
The sheriff said that this incident sheds light on the crisis surrounding “young people with these illegal firearms — shooting at each other going down the interstate — indiscriminately as to who was in the car.”
For him and his office, bringing justice to the innocent is paramount, particularly for those who were just bystanders and not involved in a dispute.
“Two young people shooting at each other is bad enough,” he said to Fox 10. “But when you have two innocent victims who had nothing to do with it that are shot and then one killed — it’s just unforgivable.”
