Video Captures Shooting of Second-Grader
Police are seeking the public's help in finding Divan Silva's shooter.
— -- Authorities in Massachusetts pleaded for help from the public today as a 7-year-old remained hospitalized after being hit by a stray bullet while riding his bike.
"If you have information, holding onto it only helps the suspect," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said in a statement. "The person who shot Divan needs to be held accountable."
Divan Silva, a second-grader from Brockton, Massachusetts, was visiting family in Dorchester when he decided to ride to the store for water early Sunday evening. Private surveillance video captured the moment he was shot and the aftermath.
In the video, Divan comes around a street corner on his bicycle and soon after starts holding his leg as he passes in front of a barbershop.
He then is shown rolling off the bike and looking under his left thigh as blood stains the sidewalk. Police said Divan was shot in the buttocks. A 20-year-old man was also grazed in the head by a bullet. The window front of the barbershop was shattered.
Divan's mother, Dijanira DeAndrade, said she heard the gunshots and then ran outside to check on Divan with her mom.
"It was very emotional to see my son like that," she told the Boston Globe Tuesday. "He couldn't move. I was holding him. He was just looking at me and I was talking to him."
Divan reportedly had surgery Sunday and was attempting to walk Monday and Tuesday. He was said to be in good condition at Boston Children's Hospital.
"He's laughing. He's playing around," Divan's father, Vandir Silva, told ABC News affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston. "I really didn't know what to do. ... I was at work and then somebody called me, saying my son got shot. ... I had no idea what was going on."
Authorities said a group of men was standing in front of the barbershop at the time of the shooting but police said they did not know who the target was. Authorities said the shooter was wearing a red hoodie and tan pants, and was between the ages of 14 and 18.
"This is inexcusable," said Boston Police Superintendent William Gross. "This is our community."