The Selma Times-Journal

Homer Ward was arrested Tuesday at the Dallas County Courthouse in connection with the Sunday shooting of a 13-year-old.

Ward was being arraigned on an interference with child custody charge at the time of his arrest, according to District Attorney Michael Jackson.

Ward’s bond hearing will be held this week.

“We’re going to be asking for a $1 million bond on the charge,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to tolerate anyone shooting kids.”

The young teen was walking to Legrand Avenue, looking for his older brother when the incident occurred about 8 p.m. Sunday, said his mother, Betty Woods.

According to Woods, some men were arguing when the shots were fired, one of the shots apparently striking the teen in the back, with the bullet coming out of his arm.

“He told them he’d been shot … they took it as a joke,” Woods said. “But, God gave my baby enough strength to make it to somebody’s house.”

Woods said she is thankful to the staff at the Vaughan Regional Medical Center, as well as the hospital in Birmingham where the teen was taken. He has since been released.

“He’s still in a lot of pain, but he’s doing a whole lot better than before,” Woods said on Tuesday. “I’m thanking God my boy is here. They said (at the hospital) he had an angel watching over him.”

Woods appealed to the community to put down the guns. “Drug dealers – whoever you are – the ones behind the guns,” she said. “They don’t know whose child they might hurt. We need to make our homes safe again.”

She also put out an appeal to parents. “We need to know where our kids are at. We need to know who they are around.”