Police in Vallejo are looking for up to five men after a 7-year-old boy was struck by a stray bullet early Wednesday evening and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
"Regardless of age or gender, whenever someone gets shot, it's a tremendous heartache to the agency, to the community," Lt. Kenny Park said Thursday morning. "But especially a 7-year-old."
Park said officers do not know "what spurred the shooting" about 5:20 p.m. on the 800 block of 5th Street. "We're still gathering the facts."
The boy's grandmother, Alvina Williams, identified the boy as Kumar Polk, a boy who loves basketball, football, and baseball.
"For the first time in seven years, I couldn't pick him up," Williams said off camera while clutching her grandson's pants around her neck for comfort. "I went to my apartment and thought everything was OK. Then, I got a call from the dad's mother who said my grandson had just been shot."
Her voice trailed off for a moment. "He's only 7. He's only 7. And he's just so sweet," Williams said with tears in her voice.
She said Kumar was in stable condition on Thursday, but added that it wasn't looking too good. He was shot in the chest and his fingers were also shot off, she said.
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Her grandson is now at UCSF Benioff Oakland after being transferred from Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo.
According to neighbor Sherry Pereira, a group of about 40 people had gathered for a wake of a man who had died earlier Wednesday when gunfire broke out, hitting the boy, who was standing in front of the apartment complex where the service was being held. Kumar was with his father at the time, and his mother was at work.
"People were screaming, someone got shot," she said, adding that now, the entire neighborhood is worried about their safety. "An innocent little boy got caught in the crossfire."
When officers arrived, they found bullet casings on the street, but they couldn't find the boy.
Police were then told that the boy was taken to a nearby hospital by family members.
The suspects are possibly associated with a dark-colored vehicle, according to police.
Williams hopes the people who did this to her "Granny man" are caught. What she's clinging to is how she and Kumar teased each other, and she hopes that they'll be abel to do it again some day.
"He'd say, 'Love you Granny,' and I'd say, 'I love you more,' " she recalled. "He said, 'I love you more.' And I'd say, ' I love you more and more and more.' That's the way it's been."
Investigators are asking for the public's help with any information on the shooting and are asked to contact Detective Drew Ramsey at 707-651-7146 or the Vallejo Police Department at 707-648-4524.
