Cousin furious after 8-year-old boy wounded in crossfire

By Peter D’Oench

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    OPA-LOCKA, Florida (WFOR) — An 8-year-old Opa-locka boy who was wounded in a crossfire between two people on Saturday afternoon is speaking out, saying he is recovering and hopes the criminals will be caught.

Mauri Robinson was playing with friends near his apartment at 220 Dunad Avenue at 1:30 Saturday afternoon when he and his loved ones say a bullet from the crossfire struck him and went through his buttocks.

The child was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center and then released this weekend. A photograph shows him waving after he was released from Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Robinson spoke with CBS4’s Peter D’Oench outside his apartment.

“How do you feel?” he was asked.

“Good,” he replied.

“Did you remember what happened?” he was asked.

“No,” he said.

The child showed CBS4 where he was wounded when the bullet hit his buttocks.

“Did it hurt a lot when you were hit?” he was asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“What went through your mind?” he was asked.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Do you feel better now?” he was asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Mauri, do you hope the bad guys will be caught”? he was asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

The child’s cousin Nikkia Lewis said he would remain away from school until next week and was in the process of changing schools.

“Put the guns down,” she said. “Put the guns down. We have got to stop the pattern here.”

Robinson’s aunt Latrice Harris said, “Anytime there is violence of this nature, it is upsetting. I would like to see these people found. Most important they need to get some control over the gun violence because I don’t think there are enough laws to stop this sort of gun violence in Miami. Also conflict resolution is important. There are other ways to stop problems than to pick up a gun.”

There have been a number of shootings of children in Miami-Dade this year.

In January, 6-year-old Chassidy Saunders was shot and killed while leaving a friend’s birthday party. In April, 3-year-old Elijah LaFrance was shot and killed at his own birthday party.

In August in Opa-locka, 12-year-old Makaylah Rolle was caught in the middle of gunfire while playing with some other children at a playground and needed surgery after being shot in the lower leg.

Opa-locka police said they initially had two persons of interest in custody but on Monday, they would only say that they are actively working this case and they said they thought there might be developments in the next few days.

On Monday afternoon, some Opa-locka police detectives returned to the field where the shooting happened looking for leads.

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