12-year-old shot by stray bullet on the road to recovery

A 12-year-old boy was shot inside his grandmother’s apartment at the Rolling Hills Apartments in Pine Hills late Sunday morning. 

“The bullet came through here,” Phyllis Reed said pointing to her front window. “[It] went through this wall here,” she said showing FOX 35 News the holes in a wall. 

She took us into the next bedroom over to show us the other side. 

“Then, the bullets came here, came out of here, and hit him on the side of the bed,” she said.

Her grandson, 12-year-old Javen, was struck in the stomach. 

On Monday morning, his mom sent Phyllis a picture of him smiling from his hospital bed, flashing a peace sign. 

Javen, an honor roll student and star football player, will be starting sixth grade this month. 

“It’s scary, very, very scary,” Phyllis said. 

She says she was watching TV in her bed with her 3-year-old granddaughter while Javen was in the next room playing video games when they heard some loud pops. 

“He ran out, ran in my room and he asked me what it was. When I heard the loud exchanges, I told him to get down and as he was getting down, he fell. When he fell, I said, ‘Oh God, he’s been hit.’ He jumped up and said, 'Granny, I been shot,'” Phyllis said. 

The bullet went through Javen’s abdomen and pierced his liver. 

“He’s scared. You should have seen the fear in his eyes when it all happened,” she said. 

Phyllis immediately tried to get Javen help. 

“We go to the front, they’re still shooting. Go to the back, still shooting. So we’re stuck inside, can’t even get him to the hospital,” she said recalling the chaos. 

Phyllis was able to sneak her grandson out her back door and get him to her car before they found first responders pulling into their complex. 

Javen was rushed to the hospital where doctors removed the bullet from his abdomen.

She was so relieved when he woke up from surgery. 

“He just said, 'I love you.' I kept saying, 'I love you. I love you and I’m sorry this happened,'” Phyllis said. 

She’s still so shaken that she’s now afraid to have her grandchildren over and she wants to move from the apartment she’s been living in for seven years. 

“We’re just innocent bystanders. A bunch of gunfire. Guys shooting back and forth at each other,” Phyllis said.

Javen is expected to be in the hospital for another five days. 

If you have any information on who was involved in Sunday’s shooting, you’re asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Office or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.