Family of 13-year-old boy with autism shot while sleeping last month speaks out

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The mother of a 13-year-old boy with autism who was shot and wounded while he was asleep in bed last month is speaking out.

The family said the teen still has bullet fragments in his head, and he is continuing his recovery process.

Jatavia Cooper and her daughter Iyana Travis surveyed the damage at their apartment Tuesday for the first time since gunfire from outside turned their world upside down.

The shooting happened July 19 in the 2300 block of West Van Buren Avenue.

Cooper said her 13-year-old son Martavion Gaddy, who has autism, was in bed when a shot went through the outside wall and struck him in the head. He got up to show his sister Iyana.

"He was like 'I think I got shot,'" Travis said. " I sat there for a second and then my cousin screamed."

Cooper said it was originally reported that Gaddy was outside, and the gunman may have been aiming at him. However, she said that could not be further from the truth.

According to the Chicago Police Department's report, the 13-year-old was standing in a courtyard area of the residence when he was grazed in the head by gunfire.

"The way they reported it made it seem like he was the target," Cooper said. "He wasn't. He was asleep upstairs."

See also | Boy, 14, in critical condition after shot in head on Near West Side, Chicago police say

The inside of the house is still riddled with bullet holes from shots fired outside last month. Travis said at first she thought there were fireworks going off, but then she, her brother and her cousin hid in the bathtub.

"I was terrified," Travis said. "I was shaking, but I knew I couldn't cry because my brother was sitting there with me."

Gaddy has bullet fragments still in his head, but he is expected to make a full recovery physically. The psychological recovery may take longer.

"When we came from the hospital, he was shaking," Cooper said. "He didn't want to be here."

See also | Man charged in 9-year-old girl's Portage Park shooting death denied bond

The family has been unable to return to living in their apartment since the shooting nearly three weeks ago. They have been staying with relatives.

The building's management said they are working on finding a new place for them to stay.