Boy, 14, ‘lucky to be alive’ after being shot, say bewildered kin

A Bronx teen shot three times in a mysterious shooting was fighting for his life Saturday as his stunned family struggled to understand how trouble found a youngster who did nothing to warrant the violence.

At the home of the 14-year-old boy in the Pelham Parkway Houses on Bronxwood Ave., the child’s uncle was grateful his young nephew had not succumbed to the seemingly random attack.

“He’s blessed, he’s lucky to be alive,” Johnnie Mitchell, 50, told the Daily News on Friday. “He was shot three times in the neck and chest.”

The teen was in the lobby of a building on Wallace Ave. near Antin Place about 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday when moments later, he was hit by gunshots fired in front of the building, police said.

Mitchell said his nephew was in stable condition at Jacobi Medical Center, but hasn’t been able to speak yet because he’s still intubated.

He said the boy’s mom has constantly been by his side. “Ever since it’s happened she’s been in the hospital day and night. She’s in a bad way,” said Mitchell.

“I’ve never seen someone with so many machines and tubes in them,” the uncle added about his nephew’s medical condition.

The motive remains a mystery to the family. Mitchell said his nephew wasn’t into guns or the lifestyle that came along with them.

“He wasn’t looking for trouble. He’s not into that life,” said Mitchell.

“Think what a 14-year-old would normally be into, TV, playing videos, being on the computer. He’s an aspiring rapper, that’s his thing,” Mitchell said. “Nothing that would lead to trouble. I don’t understand why this happened.”

Mitchell speculates his nephew was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I really don’t think they were looking for him,” said Mitchell about the suspects. “He’s a 14-year-old kid, he didn’t deserve that.”

There have been no arrests.