12-year-old Oakland boy shot in the foot by catalytic converter thieves
12-year-old Oakland boy shot in the foot by catalytic converter thieves
When an Oakland father woke up early Thursday morning to the sounds of a thief stealing his vehicle's catalytic converter, he went outside to stop what was happening. But the man's 12-year-old son ended up being shot in the foot by the thief. KTVU's Henry Lee reports.
OAKLAND, Calif - A 12-year-old boy is speaking out after he was shot and wounded by catalytic converter thieves early Friday outside his Oakland home.
"The guy started shooting, and the bullet hit my leg," said the boy, Fernando Melendez, sitting in a chair hours after he was released from the hospital.
"I hurted, but it hurted a little bit, not that much," Fernando said.
It happened at about 3 a.m. near the corner of Rawson Street and Brookdale Avenue in Oakland's Maxwell Park neighborhood.
A neighbor's surveillance camera captured footage of two cars pulling up to the family's Honda Accord. Soon, they lifted the car up to get at the catalytic converter.
Fernando's father heard the noise, got up and threw a chair and a rock over his fence to try to stop them.
In response, one of the thieves opened fire through the fence.
It's grainy, but in the video you can see muzzle flashes.
"That's where they hit, the bullets," said Fernando, pointing to a damaged door frame. "That's the first one. And the bullet went, the other one went inside. I don't know where it hit."
The father wasn't hit. But Fernando was. A family friend says a bullet went through an open doorway where the boy was standing, and into the boy's right foot .
"The kid was right behind him, kind of seeing what was going on and unfortunately got him," the friend said.
Florence Greenhill, visiting from Wisconsin at a friend's home nearby said, "I was sleeping and, like it woke me up. Pop-pop-pop-pop, and then squeal, I heard like the squeal of a car taking off."
The surveillance video shows both cars peeling away. Fernando's father took him to the hospital.
Oakland police responded. They recovered, evidence including bullets - and the jack the would-be thieves left behind.
Fernando's mother Yssica Chavez, speaking through an interpreter, says her son was strong right after getting shot and that she was the one who needed comforting.
"But now that he's back from the hospital, he has trauma, he's asking why they shot him. He's only, again 12 years old," she said.
Neighbor Jessica Juno said, "We have a little boy who's 5, so we just couldn't believe it when we heard that he was shot. It's just heartbreaking to hear this."