SHOT IN CAR! He Neve Saw it Coming...
Boy, 5, is shot in car on I-93
Bullet fired from second vehicle wounds child in back seat
By David Abel and Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent | March 22, 2007
MEDFORD -- A 5-year-old boy was shot last night on Interstate 93 just north of the Zakim Bridge by someone in a Pontiac with four men that had been trailing his mother's Honda from the Harbor Point apartments in Dorchester, State Police and witnesses said.
The boy, Sheldon Mathias, was hit at least once in the torso while in a child's seat in the back of his mother's black 2005 Accord, said Tony Suggs, the mother's boyfriend, who was in the front passenger seat during the shooting. Several shots riddled the car, and at least one went through the rear passenger window and struck the boy.
"I was panicking, and I turned around and saw his face getting darker," Suggs said in an interview at the State Police barracks in Medford, where they rushed after the shooting. "I lifted up his shirt and saw he was shot. I told him, 'Keep talking to me! Keep talking to me!' He looked at me and said, 'I love you.' "
Sheldon was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in serious condition, said Lieutenant Eric Anderson of the State Police. The boy's condition was upgraded to fair late last night, hospital officials said.
Suggs, 20, said the couple had just dropped off a friend's girlfriend at the Harbor Point apartments, just north of the University of Massachusetts. The man, whose name he did not provide, was sitting next to the boy in the back of the car as they headed toward Suggs's home in Malden to play cards.
As they headed north on the highway, Suggs said the man's girlfriend called and told them she had seen a man walk toward the Honda as they drove away and then hurry toward a nearby Pontiac, which Suggs and officials described as gray and either a Grand Am or Grand Prix.
The woman, whose name he did not provide, said it appeared they were being chased.
As they crossed the Zakim Bridge, Suggs said, he saw the Pontiac on the passenger side. Then he heard four shots.
He said he had no idea who the men were. "It's just something that happened," Suggs said. "I don't know why. I wish I knew why."
At first, they didn't realize that Sheldon had been hit. "I was just thinking, 'Am I hit? Was anyone else hit?' " said the man in the back seat, who declined to give his name in the interview outside the Medford barracks.
Then, he looked at the boy. "He was just sitting there," he said. "He said he was all right, but we didn't want to take his word for it, so we checked him everywhere and saw blood on his side . . . All this, it's crazy stuff."
The boy's mother, Brooke Mathias, became hysterical, Suggs said.
She pulled off the highway at Route 28, and Suggs guided her to the barracks, where he said he had been before, after getting into a car accident nearby.
Troopers called paramedics, who transported the boy to the hospital.
The incident occurred about 9 p.m. on the Somerville-Charlestown line, Anderson said. Police had no suspects last night.
It was not the first time violence erupted on I-93.
In January 2004, Lynn Bader, 26, of Manchester, N.H., was fatally shot after being chased in an apparent incident of road rage. Jerone Jones, 25, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15-18 years in prison.
Last night, the Honda remained at the barracks, its rear passenger-side window blown out. Glass and blood covered the child's car seat.
Suggs spent several hours speaking to detectives; he said he was itching to join the Mathiases at the hospital. "He's a good, lovable kid," Suggs said. "If he saw you, he would come right up and start talking to you. He talks to everybody."
Globe correspondent Khristopher Flack contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Boy, 5, is shot in car on I-93
Bullet fired from second vehicle wounds child in back seat
By David Abel and Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent | March 22, 2007
MEDFORD -- A 5-year-old boy was shot last night on Interstate 93 just north of the Zakim Bridge by someone in a Pontiac with four men that had been trailing his mother's Honda from the Harbor Point apartments in Dorchester, State Police and witnesses said.
The boy, Sheldon Mathias, was hit at least once in the torso while in a child's seat in the back of his mother's black 2005 Accord, said Tony Suggs, the mother's boyfriend, who was in the front passenger seat during the shooting. Several shots riddled the car, and at least one went through the rear passenger window and struck the boy.
"I was panicking, and I turned around and saw his face getting darker," Suggs said in an interview at the State Police barracks in Medford, where they rushed after the shooting. "I lifted up his shirt and saw he was shot. I told him, 'Keep talking to me! Keep talking to me!' He looked at me and said, 'I love you.' "
Sheldon was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in serious condition, said Lieutenant Eric Anderson of the State Police. The boy's condition was upgraded to fair late last night, hospital officials said.
Suggs, 20, said the couple had just dropped off a friend's girlfriend at the Harbor Point apartments, just north of the University of Massachusetts. The man, whose name he did not provide, was sitting next to the boy in the back of the car as they headed toward Suggs's home in Malden to play cards.
As they headed north on the highway, Suggs said the man's girlfriend called and told them she had seen a man walk toward the Honda as they drove away and then hurry toward a nearby Pontiac, which Suggs and officials described as gray and either a Grand Am or Grand Prix.
The woman, whose name he did not provide, said it appeared they were being chased.
As they crossed the Zakim Bridge, Suggs said, he saw the Pontiac on the passenger side. Then he heard four shots.
He said he had no idea who the men were. "It's just something that happened," Suggs said. "I don't know why. I wish I knew why."
At first, they didn't realize that Sheldon had been hit. "I was just thinking, 'Am I hit? Was anyone else hit?' " said the man in the back seat, who declined to give his name in the interview outside the Medford barracks.
Then, he looked at the boy. "He was just sitting there," he said. "He said he was all right, but we didn't want to take his word for it, so we checked him everywhere and saw blood on his side . . . All this, it's crazy stuff."
The boy's mother, Brooke Mathias, became hysterical, Suggs said.
She pulled off the highway at Route 28, and Suggs guided her to the barracks, where he said he had been before, after getting into a car accident nearby.
Troopers called paramedics, who transported the boy to the hospital.
The incident occurred about 9 p.m. on the Somerville-Charlestown line, Anderson said. Police had no suspects last night.
It was not the first time violence erupted on I-93.
In January 2004, Lynn Bader, 26, of Manchester, N.H., was fatally shot after being chased in an apparent incident of road rage. Jerone Jones, 25, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15-18 years in prison.
Last night, the Honda remained at the barracks, its rear passenger-side window blown out. Glass and blood covered the child's car seat.
Suggs spent several hours speaking to detectives; he said he was itching to join the Mathiases at the hospital. "He's a good, lovable kid," Suggs said. "If he saw you, he would come right up and start talking to you. He talks to everybody."
Globe correspondent Khristopher Flack contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Last edited:
Either one.. you are not shot at for no reason..
