Tristen Michel’s mother hasn’t left her son’s side since he arrived at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital.
The 15-year-old boy is recovering from a gunshot wound to the face. He was shot Tuesday afternoon in Prince Albert.
“He’s alive. Oh, thank God he is alive,” Lorraine Michel says. “No parent should ever have to go through this.”
Tristen’s upper teeth are shattered, his lip is cut and he will need plastic surgery, according to his mother.
He is able to speak, she says.
He told her he was walking to the store with a friend when his friend started running. Tristen didn’t know what was happening and then was hit on the back of the head. He fell to the ground before the gun was pointed at his throat. He moved his head and was shot in the cheek, according to his mother.
He lied on the ground for a while before running home, he told her.
Police say the shooting happened just before 2:45 p.m. on the 1700 block of Prince Albert’s 14th Street West. A 17-year-old boy was arrested hours later.
The accused, who can’t be named because of his age, was found with a gun when he was arrested, according to police. He made his first court appearance Thursday to face charges of attempted murder and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Lorraine says Tristen was taking a semester off school. Something had been bothering him recently, she says.
“I’m pretty sure something had happened. He was always so scared going out. I always drove him around to his friends or to the store. Just this time I wasn’t there for him when this happened."
She doesn’t believe Tristen knew the accused.
The 17-year-old is scheduled back in court next week for a bail hearing.
