A 7-year-old boy was taken to a hospital Sunday night after two men entered a DeKalb County home and began shooting, police said.
The child’s mother told police she did not know the men who opened fire inside the home in the 3100 block of Fairington Road. Officers were called about 7:30 p.m. after gunshots were heard in the area.
“A 7-year-old male victim was injured in the shooting,” DeKalb police spokeswoman Michaela Vincent said in a statement. “He’s in stable condition at a local hospital. No one else was injured in the shooting.”
The nature of the boy’s injuries was not disclosed.
“The unidentified suspects fled the scene and our preliminary investigation has led us to believe that this was not a random act,” Vincent said.
The shooting was the latest in a string of gunfire incidents involving children in metro Atlanta. Kennedy Maxie, 7, was fatally shot Dec. 21 while Christmas shopping with her family. She was riding in a car near Phipps Plaza when gunfire erupted in the parking lot, striking Kennedy in the back of her head.
On Dec. 4, Jada Willingham died after another child shot her in the face near Lithonia, according to DeKalb County police. The gun’s owner was later arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the 5-year-old’s death.
Their deaths follow the drive-by shootings that killed 11-year-old Tyrell Sims and 13-year-old Brayan Zavala. Tyrell was playing with a friend outside an East Point home when he was shot Nov. 6, and on Oct. 15 Brayan was shot outside his Riverdale home while fixing a lawn mower with his brother.
Anyone with information about the latest shooting is asked to call 911 or the DeKalb County homicide unit at 770-724-7850.
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