Exclusive: Teen Shooting Victim Shares His Story

CHARLOTTE, NC — A 14-year-old boy recounts the night another teen shot him and left him for dead.  The victim and his mother agreed to speak only with WCCB Charlotte’s Courtney Francisco.

 

An afternoon of skateboarding for D’Andre Martin ended in gunfire.  Another 14 year old neighborhood boy shot him.

 

“I thought I was going to die,” said Martin. “That’s why I prayed first… I asked God to forgive me for all my sins and to bless me and my family.”

 

It was a boy he knew. Although, we can’t release his name because he’s charged as a juvenile.

 

“I wouldn’t have thought that person would have shot me,” said Martin. “I wouldn’t have thought anyone would try to shoot me because I don’t mess with anyone.”

 

It was February 3rd in the Grier Heights neighborhood. Martin was on his way home from the skate park, and he’d almost made it there. He wasn’t even a block away when he says a boy in a field called his name. He walked up, and that child shot him.

 

Martin says he crawled down the hill for help before losing consciousness.

 

“It hurts me to my heart,” said Courtney Monroe. 

 

Neighbors told Monroe someone shot her son. She ran to his side until medics arrived.

 

“This is a miracle right here, you know? He had a whole lot of damage,” said Monroe. “It went through his appendix, his small intestines and a major vein in his leg.”

 

He spent 20 days in the hospital.  On day three, police say the shooter confessed after officers arrested him in connection to a car theft.  To the see previous report, click here.

 

“This young man is a menace,” said Monroe. “If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have shot an innocent boy.”

 

Investigators won’t say how the 14-year-old got the gun, if it was stolen or if someone provided it.

 

“It’s easy to get a gun,” said Martin. “They can rob someone. Someone who’s on drugs might do a trade.”

 

Martin is back in school. 

 

“I used to couldn’t sleep,” said Martin. “It’s a pretty bad experience.”

 

He still looks over his shoulder in his own back yard.  His mother will be in court Thursday alone to face her son’s shooter for the first time.