A 1-year-old Atlanta boy is undergoing a second surgery in an effort to save his arm after being hit with a stray bullet.
The child, Rodrickus Robinson, was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston following the shooting and is currently in stable condition.
An early CBS46 report stated that an officer said the boy’s injury was “just a flesh wound.” The child’s status, however, changed after the weekend, and now his arm is in jeopardy of being lost.
Robinson’s mother Courtney Holt said doctors weren’t able to get a “strong pulse” from his “right side.”
“It’s a weak pulse,” she added. “And he’s clotting from the top.”
Atlanta police tracked down and arrested the alleged shooter, 17-year-old Levar Antwan Reed.
Reed has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and other related charges, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He said shooting Robinson wasn’t intentional, claiming he was being recruited for a local gang.
When he refused, he told police members pulled a gun on him. Reed said that he had hidden a gun nearby and sought it out to protect himself from the gang members, firing it into the group of gang members in a parking lot.
Officers indicated that they are still searching for additional suspects.
Officer Kim Jones said in a statement, “When [Reed] declined to join the gang, one of the recruiters allegedly pulled a gun on him.”
Robinson’s family was also in the parking lot at the time of the shooting, which is how the infant was wounded.
Reed was set to appear in court on Monday afternoon but waived his appearance; the teen has another court date slated for November 10.