BOSTON (WHDH) - The family of a 17-year-old student shot in Dorchester is demanding answers after the teen was wounded in front of Jeremiah E. Burke High School on Tuesday morning.
The accused shooter, also a 17-year-old student, appeared at Dorchester District Court Wednesday while the shooting victim continues to recover at a hospital.
The suspect is currently facing charges that include Armed Assault with Intent to Murder, three counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and Illegal Possession of Ammunition and Carrying a Firearm on School Grounds, among others.
7NEWS spoke with the victim’s aunt, who described the chaos of learning her nephew was wounded, saying that more needs to be done by officials in the wake of recent violence at the school.
“I’m here because they need to know that something needs to be done, and (the suspect) shouldn’t be protected because he’s a juvenile – he committed an adult crime, he needs to be tried as an adult,” she said.
She said the teen is expected to pull through, while also recalling the moment she discovered he was the teen who had been shot.
“My heart stopped, I just, it (was) really, I was scared actually because I didn’t know where he was shot, I didn’t know if he was stable, I didn’t know the circumstances surrounding it, I don’t know how many times he was shot, and then it was just, like, chaos when I made it to the school, so a very scary situation,” she explained.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said the shooting outside of Burke HS is not something he is taking lightly.
“It’s simply unacceptable to have a shooting happen at 9:30 in the morning, on schoolhouse steps in front of a school in our city,” Hayden said.
The shooting, paired with a recent stabbing at the school, has the victim’s family asking what else is it going to take for more actions to be taken.
“It shouldn’t take for somebody’s parents to have to sit in a hospital with their child shot for anybody to step up and make a difference,” the teen’s aunt said.
The accused shooter will remain behind bars until a dangerousness hearing is held next week.
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