'Doctors Said He's Brain Dead': Devastated Father Speaks Out After 15-Year-Old Son Shot In Wissinoming
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 15-year-old boy is on life support after he was shot in Wissinoming Thursday night. Eyewitness News spoke with that boy's grieving father.
The 15-year-old's father, as you can imagine, is devastated.
He says his son is not expected to survive after being shot right here in front of his home.
"It's a lot to take in," said John Toomey, the victim's father.
Toomey describes the heartbreaking moment he found his 15-year-old son, Sean Toomey, lying in his neighbor's yard with a gunshot wound to the head.
"You can't describe it. It's not something I want anyone to experience. I was just in the hospital with him. Doctors said he's brain dead," Toomey said.
The gunshots rang out in front of the family's rowhouse at the corner of Mulberry and Devereaux Streets around 9 p.m. Thursday.
The shooting appears to have stemmed from an attempted car break-in at an apartment complex across the street.
"I was scared for my life. One, I didn't even know that they had a gun. I just know they was trying to take my car," the victim said.
The tenant, who didn't want to show her face, says she and her 2-year-old son were in a car, and as she was pulling into a parking spot, two guys walked up and started pulling at her car doors.
The suspects ran away after realizing her car was locked, but when the victim called her boyfriend to come down, he caught one of the suspects fleeing.
"He seen a guy at the corner and he wanted to go point and say, 'Is this the [expletive] in the all black?' So before I went to go by him to identify was it him, gunshots rang out," she said.
"Allegedly they were shooting for the husband and they hit my son," Toomey said.
Toomey says Sean was struck while grabbing a case of water from the back seat of the family's car.
The suspects took off, leaving the family grieving the loss of a promising teenager whose life was cut far too short.
"You're shooting around at people, kill some 15-year-old kid. I want them to go to jail for a long time," he said.
Toomey says this is normally a quiet neighborhood, but he and his daughter are planning to move. They don't feel safe here anymore.
Police have not announced any arrests.
