Brenda Mallory says her 17-year-old son, Jonathan Walke, was riding his e-bike to In-N-Out when he was shot three times in the back.
PHOENIX — A Valley mother is going through what every parent hopes they never will.
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Brenda Mallory and her son, Jonathan Walke, have been at the hospital since last Saturday night, after Jonathan was shot three times while riding his bike to get food.
Mallory said Jonathan had decided to ride his e-bike to grab food at In-N-Out around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. The family had just gotten home from vacation the week before.
“He’s done it dozens of times,” she said.
But about eight minutes after he left, Mallory said she got a phone call from her son, saying he had been shot three times.
“A mother’s worst nightmare,” Mallory said.
Mallory said Jonathan told her where he was, near 48th and Sonora streets, and she told him she was on her way.
The fire department and Phoenix police officers were already at the scene by the time Mallory got there.
“When I got there, I couldn’t talk to him because he was screaming in pain, saying it hurt, it hurt, it hurt,” Mallory said, wiping tears from her eyes. “There was nothing I could do.”
Jonathan was shot in the back by someone in a car “coming up on him,” Mallory said. The bullet went through his back and out of his abdomen, and he has already had surgery to remove his gallbladder, appendix, as well as part of his colon and part of his kidney.
The surgery also repaired part of his liver, where the bullet tore a hole through; the surgery cleaned out his liver, and then it was sewn back together, Mallory explained.
The Phoenix police said officers responded to the area where Jonathan was shot and found a “male suffering from a gunshot wound.” Police later confirmed to 12News that the person who was shot was a juvenile.
“The male was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. Detectives responded to investigate. Currently there are no suspects in custody,” police said.
Mallory said she has no idea why her son was shot. The family has lived in the same house for three years, and she said she never felt unsafe.
Her son, especially, has always gone out of his way to make the neighborhood a more welcoming place.
“He’s just got a good heart. He used to take good to this homeless man [who] lived in our neighborhood. I lost a lot of Tupperware that day, or that week, actually,” Mallory said, smiling through tears. “But that’s my son. Because the world would be a horrible place without him.”
Jonathan has another surgery, Mallory said, to make sure everything in the first surgery went well, and then she hopes he will be able to come home soon.
“I think he’ll make it through. I think he’s gonna pull through,” Mallory said. “He’s strong.”
If anyone has any information regarding the shooting, Mallory said she hopes people come forward and that those responsible do too.
“It’s one of those senseless things, people being stupid, over stupid things, and just wanting to inflict harm on people for no reason,” Mallory said. “It’s gotta stop.”
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