Okolona father says 12-year-old son has long road to recovery after drive-by shooting

By Shaquille Lord

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    LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — When police say a shooting is not life-threatening, that doesn’t mean it’s not life-changing.

That rings true for a 12-year-old Okolona boy who is still in the hospital after a stray bullet injured him. Terrell Smith Sr. never thought he would see his 12-year-old son Terrell Jr. at the hospital.

“He has this look on his face and I just look at him and say, ‘Everything is going to be alright,’ in time everything is going to be alright,” he said.

Words of encouragement — just a few days later after both of their lives were changed forever. Smith Sr. says he remembers vividly what happened as they were inside their Dunwoody Court apartment Sunday night in Okolona.

“I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” said Smith Sr.

His son had on his headphones playing video games but Smith Sr. says the sound of gunfire was all he heard.

“I tried to grab him and get him out of the way because bullets were still flying through the house, we went into the hallway. We stood there for a minute before I realized how bad he was hit,” he said.

One of those stray bullets hit his 12-year-old in the knee.

“It looked like a chunk of meat was out of his leg,” Smith Sr. told WLKY.

Neighbors told WLKY it was a drive-by shooting and Terrell’s son was just an innocent bystander. While doctors expect him to survive, he’s just one of the latest victims in the growing gun violence.

From the start of this year to last Sunday, there have been 331 nonfatal shootings according to the Louisville Metro Police Department. That’s a nearly 50% increase over last year when during the same time frame, there were about 232.

“We mind our own business; we don’t bother anyone. I go to work and come home, that’s about it,” Smith told WLKY.

He says his focus right now is his son’s mental and physical well-being.

“They have to wait and see if his leg is ever going to be the same again because of the fragments and things that shattered,” said Smith Sr.

A journey he’ll be part of every step of the way.

So far no arrests have been made in this shooting.

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