DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — Blogger Tammy Clayton’s cameras were rolling Sunday when a 12-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the chest.
Anturi Polite had been playing with other kids outside a home on South Ussery Street near east Lafayette Street when he accidentally shot himself. He is currently recovering at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham after the bullet passed through his chest, hit part of his lung, and went out of his back.
Anturi is currently on a ventilator and intubated, which should allow his lung to heal, avoiding surgery.
His mother, Chemicka Polite, tells WDHN she found out about this shooting from a Facebook live video. She says she had to ask the person hosting the live session to identify whether or not it was her son who was hurt.
Polite says she still doesn’t know what was happening and how he shot himself, just that he was playing eith other children when the shooting occurred.
“The bullet also passed his spinal cord, it didn’t hit, but close enough that some kind of trauma has happened,” Chemicka Polite said. “There is no surgery they can do for it, so at this point Anturi will not walk.”
His mom is still in shock.
“Anyone letting me know how this happened to my 12-year old son. He is a minor, someone should have contacted me already,” she said.
Chemicka and the family have started a GoFundMe for Anturi, as they don’t know how long he will be in the hospital.
Chemicka is hoping to learn more about what happened and hopes her son will somehow be able to walk again.
“My son is not going to walk right now,” said Polite. “I don’t know even how to process that or prepare for that.”
Dothan police says that this is still an active investigation.