Police: Man who shot teen upset about neighborhood fireworks







A 14-year-old boy was shot and critically injured Saturday night, allegedly by a neighbor who was upset about fireworks going off in his neighborhood.

The victim remained in critical but stable condition Sunday night. Relatives said he was removed from a medically induced coma Sunday and is slowly improving.

The teen was at an annual Fourth of July party with relatives on St. Paul's west side. D.J. Footh, the boy's cousin, said they were outside lighting fireworks near E. Belvidere St. and Oakdale Ave. During a brief lull in the fireworks, they saw the boy grab his neck.

"All of a sudden we look over and he just stumbled back," D.J. Footh said. "And then we just saw the blood."

They quickly realized the boy had been shot. Mitch Godwin, a family friend, immediately applied pressure to control the bleeding.

"I was able to just take my military training and basically just keep him stable and make sure he's breathing OK and just kept the bleeding from bleeding out," Godwin said.

"He would've bled out right here," D.J. Footh interjected. "He'd be dead if this kid [Godwin] wasn't here."

Paramedics rushed the teen to Regions Hospital, while police officers canvassed the neighborhood.

Police arrested a 49-year-old man at a house down the road. The man had a rifle in his home, said St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Schnell. The man was apparently upset about fireworks going off in his neighborhood.

"When somebody's willing to take a gun and fire in the direction of people who are using fireworks, that's over-the-top," Schnell said.

According to relatives, doctors said the boy is lucky to be alive.

"He's doing good. He's gonna make it," D.J. Footh said. "When the bullet went in, it missed all his internal organs, didn't hit his vocal cords. The kid's gonna walk away with a story at the very least."

Investigators expect to present their case to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office Monday morning.

dang

The man should have had more control than that but I have to say that I dislike the 4th of July myself. People seem to have to outdo eachother each year with the loudest most obnoxious firworks they can find. They don't just shoot them off that one day, they start a week early and end a week sometimes two after.

Glad the boy is ok.