MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 13-year-old boy is recovering after being shot at a community center in Memphis — four years after his brother was grazed by a bullet at the same community center, his grandmother says.
“I’m holding on, just holding on,” Carrie Banks said. “I want him to come home. That’s my baby. That’s my baby.”
The grandmother says her grandson, 13-year-old Derek Jones, was hit by a stray bullet when shots rand out at the Westwood Community Center just before 8 p.m. Sunday.
Vincent Jones, 24, was killed in the shooting.
Banks says her grandson was at the community center playing basketball. She says from now on he will have to work on those skills from home.
“He’s going to have to play basketball at home. I know he can get a shot just as well at home.”
It’s an all-too familiar memory for Banks.
Just four years ago, Jones’ older brother was grazed in the head by a stray bullet in the park.
“He said, ‘Grandma, when I got in the ambulance I thought about what you said.’ I said, ‘Lord have mercy,” Banks said.
This grandmother believes it’s those prayers that have kept and carried her grandson’s even when danger swirled all around them.
“He was praying. He remembered I said to pray.”
As she holds on waiting until she can hold him in her arms, her faith stands tall.
“He’s out of surgery now. They are going to monitor him all day today, and let him come home tomorrow,” Banks said.
