Doctors are adopting a wait-and-see approach to the recovery of a 5-year-old boy who was hit by a stray bullet in the head on his birthday in the Bronx on Monday.
Prosecutors have said that if the boy does not survive, the shooter will be charged with murder.
Little Jaheen Hunter was walking with his father when 27-year-old Michael (White Boy) Quiles got into an altercation with two other man on the same street. Quiles fired on them, but missed, hitting Jaheen on the head instead.
He underwent surgery on Tuesday, but bullet fragments still remained inside his skull.
His great grandmother, Barbara Holmes, told The New York Daily News that the doctors were now waiting for the anesthesia to slowly wear off. “They want him to wake up slowly and see what they’re dealing with.He’s gradually coming out of it.”
While the family is hoping that prayers will help Jaheen to pull through, Assistant District Attorney told a judge Wednesday that the boy is in critical, but stable condition.
“They can’t tell his prognosis, and are not sure whether he’ll survive.”
Jaheen’s father, Charlie Hunter, said Quiles knew him by name and apologized for shooting his son before fleeing the scene of the crime. “Sorry, Charlie. It’s my bad,” he said to Hunter.
Quiles, who was arrested on Tuesday, was held without bail after being charged with attempted murder, assault and weapons charges on Wednesday morning.
He had served six years in prison for the kidnapping of an Albany woman in 2009 and was released on parole in October 2016.