13-year-old Jefferson County boy shot, critically wounded while riding in car during family outing

A 13-year-old boy was critically injured when he was shot while riding in a vehicle through Midfield Saturday night.

Corey Young, a student at Fultondale Elementary School, had spent an evening with his parents and siblings. They had gone to Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park in Homewood and then McDonald’s and were on their way home when the unthinkable happened.

The shooting comes just eight days after another boy, 12-year-old Brandon Roller, was shot and paralyzed while playing friends outside his east Birmingham apartment.

“We were just having family bonding time because they go back to school Monday,’’ said Corey’s mother, Shalanda Lawrence.

Lawrence said they were crossing over the railroad tracks near Midfield High School about 11 p.m. when someone they know drove up alongside them and opened fire.

“I saw a gunshot, but I thought he was just shooting into the air,’’ Lawrence said. “I didn’t think he shot into the car until my son was like, ‘Ma, I’ve been shot.’’’

“Everybody in the car was screaming and hollering and I was like, ‘No baby, you’re not shot’,’’ Lawrence said. “He said, ‘Ma, I’ve have been shot. My side, it’s hurting.’’’

Corey then tried to crawl into the front seat, collapsing between his parents.

The family stopped the car at the Circle K and Lawrence was yelling for someone to call 911. Midfield police received the call, and it was then transferred to dispatchers at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“Blood was everywhere,’’ Lawrence said.

They decided to drive Corey to Princeton Baptist Medical Center because it was the closest hospital. Lawrence called 911 on the way and asked that deputies meet them there.

The medical staff at Princeton stabilized Corey and gave him some blood transfusions.

“He lost a pretty big amount of blood due to his liver,’’ she said.

“He didn’t cry through all of this,’’ Lawrence said. “He was talking and stable. He was telling us to calm down, that he was OK.”

Lawrence said the suspect fired three to four shots, but she thinks only one of them entered their vehicle.

Corey was shot in the side and sustained six broken ribs as well as internal damage to his liver and colon.

Once stabilized at Princeton, he was transferred to Children’s of Alabama where he underwent a three-hour surgery to repair the internal damage.

He was initially sedated and intubated, but that breathing tube was removed Sunday afternoon and he was alert and talking. He also has a colostomy bag because doctors had to remove a portion of his colon, but Lawrence said they hope to be able to reverse the colostomy bag in the future.

She said Jefferson County sheriff’s investigators are diligently working to find the suspect. There was no one available to comment from the sheriff’s office.

Lawrence said there has been an ongoing feud with the suspect for several years.

She said she is heartbroken over her son’s injury.

“My child doesn’t bother anybody. He was with his family,’’ she said. “I feel so bad because I’m supposed to protect him.”

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