Man upset over fireworks shoots teen

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A 14-year-old boy was shot and critically injured Saturday night, allegedly by a neighbor who was upset about fireworks going off in his neighborhood.

The victim has been upgraded to serious condition as of Monday morning. Relatives said he was removed from a medically induced coma Sunday and is slowly improving.

Charges are expected to be filed Monday afternoon according to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office.

The teen was at an annual Fourth of July party with relatives on St. Paul's west side. D.J. Footh, the boy's cousin, said they were outside lighting fireworks near E. Belvidere St. and Oakdale Ave. During a brief lull in the fireworks around 9 p.m., they saw the boy grab his neck.

"All of a sudden we look over and he just stumbled back," D.J. Footh said. "And then we just saw the blood."

They quickly realized the boy had been shot. Mitch Godwin, a family friend, immediately applied pressure to control the bleeding.

"I was able to just take my military training and basically just keep him stable and make sure he's breathing OK and just kept the bleeding from bleeding out," Godwin said.

"He would've bled out right here," D.J. Footh interjected. "He'd be dead if this kid [Godwin] wasn't here."

Paramedics rushed the teen to Regions Hospital, while police officers canvassed the neighborhood.

Police arrested a 49-year-old man at a house down the road. The man had a rifle in his home, said St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Schnell. The man was apparently upset about fireworks going off in his neighborhood.

"When somebody's willing to take a gun and fire in the direction of people who are using fireworks, that's over-the-top," Schnell said.

According to relatives, doctors said the boy is lucky to be alive.

"He's doing good. He's gonna make it," D.J. Footh said. "When the bullet went in, it missed all his internal organs, didn't hit his vocal cords. The kid's gonna walk away with a story at the very least.

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