(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Boston) - His mother is opening up about her fears following the shooting and pleading for the gunman to turn himself in.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Clarke is up and walking around inside Boston Medical Center.
He is expected to be out of the hospital in a few days.
Incredibly, he is expected to make a full recovery.
It was hard not to fear the worst.
A 13-year-old boy, was shot in a Roxbury crosswalk on his way to choir practice at church Friday night.
Police told us he was fighting for his life.
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Innocence shattered - with one bullet.
"The bullet is embedded way down in his back not far from his spine, just a few centimeters away from the spine, so it's in an area that's going to have to stay there probably forever," said Dr. Andrew Glantz, of Boston Medical Center.
Five days later, Dr. Glantz says the boy has won that fight for his life.
The surgeon sat alongside the boy’s mother, Shirley Clarke.
She hasn’t left her son Gabriel’s side since senseless violence took over their world.
"The type of child Gabriel is, he don’t understand this type of violence. And the way that it happened, he just don’t understand," Shirley Clarke said.
And even though the 8th grader has no enemies, says his mother, and doesn’t know why he was the target, what he does remember, is getting shot that night.
"He remembered everything in vivid details because he told me what happened but I'm not going to divulge that information, but it's sad and it's very bone chilling," Shirley Clarke said.
Clarke was herself at Berea Seventh Day Adventist Church Friday night, waiting for her son to arrive.
She is urging the shooter to turn himself in, to get help, but insists she is not angry and doesn’t want her son, the victim of a heinous crime, to know hate.
"The emotion that I have right now is to see to it that Gabriel is strong and confident again and I can’t allow him to see me mad because I don't want him to grow up with hatred," Shirley Clarke said.
The bullet damaged his small and large intestine, requiring 2 hours of surgery.
The search for suspects is ongoing.
