Father Says Toddler Son 'Improving' After Quadruple Shooting

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - Little D'onte Patterson's family told FOX 5, the one-year-old will survive after doctors removed a bullet from his stomach during emergency surgery.

DeKalb County Police said the child was shot with three others, two of his uncles, and a 17-year-old family friend in the breezeway at the Austin Oaks Apartments on Glenwood Road. Both of D'onte's parents were outside with him when police said a man turned the corner and opened fire.

"Somebody just decided to start shooting.  He walked from around the breezeway and we were standing right here on the pavement. Me, nor his mother, suffered any wounds and that is crazy 'cause we sitting right there. The baby is in between the both of us," said D'onte Patterson Sr.

D'onte said he picked his son up and rushed into the apartment. The gunman got away, and then his son's mother realized her baby had been shot.

"I heard the gun shots, then I heard the baby and the girl upstairs was crying, my baby, my baby, my baby," said "Michelle", a neighbor in the same building.

The family said their little "man" is stable now.

"He woke up at 3 o'clock this morning trying to take his IV's out his arm. So, he is trying to do something. He had something planned for himself this morning," his father chuckled.

D'onte said he already planned to move his four children and their mother out of the complex before the quadruple shooting.

"When you got kids and your kids can't go to sleep at night because they hear shooting. You got to do something. You can't stay here," the father concluded.

Police said they will find the shooter, no matter how long it takes.

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