‘I was so scared’: Girl recalls seeing 11-year-old injured in Watterson Park shooting
By Joyce Ogirri
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WATTERSON PARK, Ky. (WLKY) — People living in the Watterson Park neighborhood are shaken after an 11-year-old boy was shot Saturday night.
The shooting happened around 7 p.m. on Bluegrass Park Drive, off Newburg Road.
Police say the boy was rushed to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
Two juveniles have been arrested in connection with the shooting.
A 14-year-old is charged with assault and possession of a handgun by a minor.
A 17-year-old is charged with wanton endangerment, possession of a handgun by a minor and tampering with physical evidence.
Yeilin Almendares, a young friend of the 11-year-old, says she was planning to go outside and play with him.
Instead, she saw him wounded on the ground.
“I see the little boy like in the floor. It was blood in his head, and I was so scared,” Almendares said.
Almendares says the shooting has left her afraid to go outside.
“Every time I go to sleep, I get up like, a lot of times because I was so scared about that boy,” she said. “I was like thinking, I’m never going outside every time, only when my mom said.”
Robert Allen has lived in the Watterson Park neighborhood for 40 years.
He says he has never experienced anything like this in the area.
“What bothered me the most was the boy — 11 years old,” Allen said.
Allen says he believes more should have been done to keep a gun out of a child’s hands.
“Any person that owns a gun shouldn’t have it out to where a kid get a hand on it,” Allen said.
Despite the shooting, Allen says he believes the neighborhood and park will be okay.
“I’m going to be all right. The park will be all right. It’s just I hated to hear that,” he said.
Because of the severity of the boy’s injuries, Louisville Metro Police Department’s Homicide Unit is leading the investigation.
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