The mother of 11-year-old Kalel Gardner — who was struck by a stray bullet in Harlem over the weekend — described on Monday the moment she found out her son had been shot.
“At first I was so scared,” said Tatianna McLeod, speaking to The Post outside of Harlem Hospital, where Kalel is healing up.
“I’m like, ‘Where? How bad is it? Is he going to be paralyzed?'” recalled the Bronx woman.
Kalel, who was shot Sunday at around 3:20 p.m. — and is expected to make a full recovery — had just left his father’s house when the incident occurred, his mom said.
“He just asked his father to go downstairs,” McLeod told The Post, adding that he was going to the store. “Ten minutes later his father had to come running downstairs because they told him something happened to Kalel. He was so frantic.”
The shooter, who was caught on surveillance video, had fired off multiple shots at an unknown target when the youngster got struck in the leg.
His mom didn’t find out about what happened until hours later.
“He’s fine,” she remembered Kalel’s dad telling her over the phone. “It’s a flesh wound. The doctor wrapped it up. He didn’t even have to put stitches.”
Kalel is at least the 10th unintended shooting victim reported in NYC since the start of June, according to police.
“This gun violence really needs to stop,” his mother said. “I don’t know, they need to regulate these guns. Why people have no control? I don’t understand it. My baby can’t even go to the store. He was just going to the store. I’m terrified to let him outside by himself.”
McLeod told The Post that Kalel — who is expected to be released from the hospital within the next three days — is just glad that his younger brother wasn’t with him on Sunday.
“He understands that it wasn’t meant for him, so he’s not mad,” she said. “He said it didn’t hurt but he felt a sting. He said that he knew automatically that he had been shot because he had just heard a pop.”
McLeod added, “When I saw him, It was such a relief to see that it wasn’t that serious…But the whole idea that he has to deal with that is traumatic. The fact that he’s only 11 and he can say, ‘I got shot.’ It doesn’t make sense…I don’t know what’s going on with this world we’re living in. It’s dangerous and scary just to think about your children going outside. Just going to the store.”