MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ten children were killed and 168 wounded by guns in Memphis in 2023, a nearly 19% increase over the year before.

Trauma doctors at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital said about 70% of the young shooting victims had to be hospitalized, and at least 10 of them had life-altering injuries.

“We’ve had a lot of paraplegic children from gun violence from gunshots this year,” said Dr. Regan Williams. “It’s terrible. It is what keeps me up at night.”

Williams, the Trauma Medical Director at Le Bonheur, said the number of children shot in Memphis in 2023 was more than double what it was just a few years ago.

Williams said in the past, about half of the shootings were accidental and the other half the result of drive-by shootings in a neighborhood. Now, she said most of the shootings that send kids to the hospital are intentional.

“Seventy percent are intentional. Someone was intentionally firing that gun when the child got shot, and probably at least 25% of those are drive-by shootings of a house. So, people who are doing homework, eating dinner, watching TV, and playing video games get shot while just sitting in their home,” said Williams.

Three-year-old Brayden Smith was inside his grandmother’s house on New Year’s Eve when he was hit by a stray bullet. He died at Le Bonheur two days later. Police believe he was killed by someone firing celebratory gunshots.

In 2018, Lebonheur treated 68 children for gunshot wounds and set a record of 158 patients in 2021. In 2022, that number dropped slightly to 150.

“We’ve had a huge increase in community violence since the pandemic, and it was getting a little bit better last year, but then we had this huge increase in 2023. It’s hard to account for that.” Williams said.

Dr. Williams said in 2023, the majority of the gunshot victims were 7-14 years of age. She said most were from low-income families forced to deal with the aftermath.