The 11-year-old boy hit in the stomach by a bullet that came through the door of his Bronx apartment earlier this month says he's now afraid to answer the door and fears the people who hurt him could do so again.
Police do not believe Ryan Aguirre, a sixth-grade honors student, was the intended target in the Jan. 5 shooting. He wasn't wounded badly, but continues to feel the psychological effects of the traumatic incident.
"I was just playing a game and the doorbell rang, so I got up to answer it," the boy told The New York Post. "When I was walking toward the door I said, 'Who?' and they just started shooting."
Authorities say three shots were fired in the building on Creston Avenue in Fordham Manor, and one went through the apartment door, hitting the child.
A 17-year-old boy was charged with assault and weapons possession in the shooting. The suspect had an unidentified accomplice caught on surveillance video who remains at large, authorities said.
Police have said they believe the gunfire erupted over a schoolyard argument about a jacket.
Though Aguirre's shooting taught him a tough lesson about gun violence, the experience also encouraged him stay "on the right path," he told the Post.
