Mom grateful 'hero' stepped up to save son during Hollywood mass shooting
HOLLYWOOD -- There were emotional moments on Monday involving a Good Samaritan who went out of his way to help a 15-year-old boy who was wounded on the Hollywood Broadwalk on Memorial Day.
CBS News Miami was at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood as Sean Bennett stopped by the room of Kyan Reddix, who was shot 3 times on the Broadwalk.
Bennett, who was profiled last Tuesday by CBS News Miami, had tried to visit Reddix the day after the shooting but he had to wait until Reddix was out of intensive care.
Reddix's mother Latroya Stone captured some tender moments on her cell phone as Bennett embraced Reddix in his hospital room and then later, while speaking with CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench, Stone gave Bennett a hug outside the hospital.
Bennett said he felt compelled to visit Reddix at the hospital.
He said, "I have a daughter and so as a parent, I wanted to see that the child was doing well. If anything happened to my kid, I would want to know that someone would do the same thing as well. I felt like he was my own kid so it touched me deeply."
Stone said she heads heard what Bennett had done during the chaos on the Broadwalk after nine people between the ages of 16 months and 65 years old were shot.
Stone said, "I actually found him on Facebook. When I heard his name I searched for him on Facebook and I wrote him on Facebook. He is my hero and he is my son's guardian angel."
She said, "We saw other people running away and then him running to my baby who was on the ground and help him and getting towels from other people and keeping him alive because the first couple of minutes they say are most important when someone us shot and really hurting and he really helped my baby."
Stone said her son was shot twice in the chest and once in the stomach. Bennett applied pressure to stop the bleeding.
While speaking, emotions overwhelmed Stone and she hugged Bennett.
"I am about to cry," she said.
"That's OK," said Bennett.
Stone said, "He didn't think twice about doing what he did, whether it was safe to go out there or not. He just started jumping in and helping."
Stone said she hopes her son will be going home soon from the hospital.
She also said because of what Bennett did, she considers him now to be part of her family.
She also said she was gratified by the latest arrests in the case.
"I am just waiting to get more good news on the last person they are looking for because if you can go to a beach full of people and try to shoot 9 people, you don't care about anything. You don't care about anyone. You will do it again. You didn't think at all."
Memorial Regional Hospital said Reddix is the last remaining patient from the mass shooting.
