Two suspects have been arrested in a shooting last week that left a 15-year-old Birmingham boy fighting for his life.
Birmingham police on Tuesday said Omar Smith, 19, and Martez Jefferson, also 19, are charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.
Both suspects were booked into the Jefferson County Jail on Friday night.
Smith’s bond is set at $300,000. Jefferson’s bond is set at $750,000.
Investigators are trying to identify at least one additional suspect.
Christian Savage, a point guard with the Woodlawn High School basketball team, was shot in the head June 29 while playing video games in the second-floor bedroom of the family’s apartment at The Rev. Dr. Morrell Todd Homes in Birmingham’s Kingston area.
Christian Savage, 15, was critically injured when a bullet entered the bedroom window of his Birmingham apartment on June 29 2022, while he was playing video games. (Special to AL.com)
His mother, Patrice Leonard, said Birmingham police detectives told her the suspects were targeting a neighbor when they opened fire.
One of the bullets bore through Christian’s window and television before striking him in the right side of his face.
He is currently in the Critical Care Unit at Children’s of Alabama. “But he’s fighting,’’ Leonard said in a previous interview with AL.com.
The bullet remains lodged. Leonard said it traveled from the right side of his face to the left side and is near his brain. She does not yet know a full prognosis but said he will at minimum be blind in his right eye.
She said she’s devastated by the shooting.
Christian Savage, 15, was critically injured when a bullet entered the bedroom window of his Birmingham apartment on June 29 2022, while he was playing video games. (Special to AL.com)
“It’s very terrible,’’ Leonard said. “He’s an innocent child just doing what normal kids do – playing video games.”
Asked what she would say to the suspects, Leonard said, “I believe in God. I’m a Christian and I’ve always been brought up to forgive,’’ she said.
“I forgive them for what they’ve done,’’ she said. “My baby’s still and he’s still fighting. That lets me know that God’s not done with him yet.”
“I’m just asking for prayers,’’ she said.
A GoFundMe has been launched to help Leonard, Christian and Leonard’s three other children. Donations can be made here.
Anyone with information on the identity of the third suspect is asked to call detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
