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CBS4 Exclusive: 9-Year Old Victim Of Drive-By Shooting Speaks Out

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A 9-year-old child who was wounded when his Miami home was riddled with bullets Friday in a drive-by shooting is speaking out, saying he hopes the suspects will be caught. He also wants to move out of his neighborhood.

"It's not fair," said Dontrell Darling in an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "I want to be in a safe place."

Darling and his four-year-old brother Spencer and their mother Shantrell Darling spoke to D'Oench Monday just days after dozens of bullets were fired at their duplex at Northwest 8th Avenue and Northwest 55th Terrace at 3:30 Friday morning.

Dontrell's 12-year-old sister Janiyha Smith was also inside the home, along with three adults.

"My auntie came in the room and picked me up," said Dontrell Darling. "I feel bad about what happened."

"How do you feel about what happened to you?" asked D'Oench.

"I feel bad," he said. "I would like to move. Because it is scary what is happening around here."

"Would you like police to catch whoever did this?" asked D'Oench.

"Yes," said Darling.

Spencer Darling told D'Oench, "He got shot with an AK gun."

"How do you feel about that?" asked D'Oench.

"Sad," said the four-year-old brother.

"When the ambulance went to the house, he was screaming at the ambulance," said Spencer Darling. It scared me. I run under the cover."

"What did it sound like?" asked D'Oench.

"Guns," he said.

"You heard that before?" asked D'Oench.

"Yeah," said the child.

"Would you like to see whoever did this get caught?" asked D'Oench.

"Yeah," said Spencer Darling.

Dontrell Darling was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He is now out of the hospital. A bullet grazed the left side of his cheek which is now filled with stitches from the wound.

When it happened, everyone was asleep inside the home.

Miami Police say it's not known why bullets were fired at the home or who the intended target was.

Dontrell's mother Shantrell Darling wants to move and is trying to get some financial aid from Miami-Dade or any city or police-involved agencies that help victims of violent crime.

"We are living now in subsidized housing and we need help," she told D'Oench. "I have some unemployment money but am getting no child support to help me."

"It's all ridiculous what happened," she said. "We don't do nothing. We don't harm people. It's just me and the kids in the house. My house got shot up. My son got hit. Me and my children could all been dead. I feel very bad. It's terrible. Now we don't have nowhere to go. We can't go back."

"Whoever did this I want them to know that we are hurting," she said. "We are all hurting. My kids are terrified. I'd like to find a place to live where my kids don't have to worry. I'm trying to move on with our life and not worry about this."

Witnesses at the crime scene on Friday told police they saw a light colored SUV speeding away from the scene with two to four people inside.

In an exclusive interview with D'Oench on Friday, the 12-year-old sister Janiyha Smith said, "We were asleep and I just heard the gunshots and I tried to jump up but I lay back down. I just wanted to get up but something told me to lay back down. I was scared. When the bullets stopped, I just got out of my bed to check. My brother was hit in the cheek and his cheek was split open."

"He was crying," she said. "I would like to say whoever did this, this was wrong. I would like anyone with information about this to come forward."

Witnesses said the scene reminded them of a war zone.

"It sounded like a war," said neighbor Albert Doyle, who said he heard dozens of shots and dropped to the floor. "It just kept going and going."

Dontrell's aunt, "Shauntae," said on Friday, "I told him you're a real soldier because looking at what happened, he stayed real calm. There was no one here who was an intentional target so we're trying to figure out what was going on."

Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Miami Police or Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-tips (8477).

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