10-year-old affected by shootings asks for youth violence in Louisville to stop

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Three more young people were shot in Louisville on Sunday night.

A juvenile is dead and two others are injured after a shooting in the Klondike neighborhood around 11:30 p.m. Police found two boys, who appeared to be teenagers, with gunshot wounds in a parking lot in the 6500 block of Six Mile Lane. One boy died at the hospital while another remains in critical condition. A third victim, also a teenage boy, was found a short time later in St. Matthews.

In just 10 years of life, Shane Richardson has heard more gunshots than some have ever heard in their lifetime. Last week, he heard them again from his own home.

"I was panicking and my mom told me to go upstairs so I wouldn't get hurt," Richardson said. "People, they were hiding behind the houses so they wouldn't get hit by the gunshots."

The gun violence has been called an epidemic by city officials. Last month, a 16-year-old was killed and another juvenile was hurt in a Park Hill neighborhood shooting. By the end of the month, A 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old friend were shot and killed in Louisville 24 hours apart, and loved ones say they believe someone targeted their young lives.

Families said it's a fight with the streets that they're not winning. LMPD reports out of nearly 200 shootings so far this year, 47 victims have been between the ages of 11 to 17 years old. Seven of whom have died.

Richardson is friends with some children who have been hurt by the gunfire.

"If my friends are hurt, that means I can't do anything or play with my friends and I wish I could put magic in their bodies so they can feel better," Richardson said.

The boy has a message for anyone thinking about hurting someone else.

"Stop so I won't get hurt and tell them to stop the violence and I want to protect my brothers and my sister and my mom," Richardson said.

Richardson is hopeful that if he says something, he can keep others safe.

"If I tell them, they will probably stop, so they won't shoot anybody or hurt anybody and everybody will be safe," Richardson said.

Christopher 2X's Game Changers has devoted resources to supporting children impacted by gun violence with the Future Healers program, which is a partnership between the Game Changers, UofL Hospital's Trauma Institute and students at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. The goal of the program is to help Louisville children who have been impacted by violence in their neighborhoods to build a better future.

The program allows kids ages 4-to-13 affected by gun violence to get away from it all in an educational setting.

To learn more about Christopher 2X Game Changers, click here.

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