Family calls for justice after 6-year-old boy shot in road rage shooting

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Six-year-old Carlos Moore is recovering at Children’s Hospital after being shot in the back in a road rage shooting. His family tells WBRC he is stable, but still in critical condition.

“He is almost as perfect as he was before the incident,” Moore’s grandmother, Felicia Ballard said. “He’s doing good. His color is coming back. His vitals are back. He is perfect. He is there. He is almost there.”

Carlos had just been picked up from school and was in the car with his mom and two family friends. They were on their way to get his little brother when Birmingham police said their car was shot at on 4th and 5th Avenue in Avondale.

Ballard said one bullet hit Carlos in the back and then traveled through his intestines and came out of his stomach. His leg was also injured in the shooting from ricocheting bullets.

“No organs were damaged,” Ballard said. “No bones damaged or spine. He is an angel. He is literally blessed.”

Birmingham police said it was a possible road rage shooting. Police believe a man in a white sedan fired more than 10 rounds at the car Carlos was in. The two family friends were also shot before their car hit a telephone pole.

“We don’t know if it was targeted,” Ballard said. “If it was, why, the reason, who were they looking for? Four people were in the car, so who were they looking for?”

Police believe Moore’s car was possibly followed and his family said this violence has to stop before more innocent children are injured.

“It is time to put the guns down,” Carlos’s aunt LaTonya Brannon said. “Our children should never be fighting for their lives from gunshots.”

Police have made no arrests in the case and his family is begging for anyone with information to come forward.

“If there is anything that anybody knows, somebody has to speak up,” Ballard said. “Any witnesses, anybody, we need people to come forward, because these cowards - justice needs to be served.”

Ballard said Carlos is still on a breathing machine to give his body rest to heal, but doctors said he should make a full recovery. When he wakes up, Ballard is excited to see him being his happy 6-year-old self again.

“He is so mature, so smart, outgoing,” Ballard said. “He knows no strangers.”

“He is so caring,” Brannon said. “Very helpful and he loves to cook.”

Brannon said the other two passengers who were shot in the incident are stable and recovering.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps solve this crime.

Birmingham Police said there have been a total of 9 children under the age of 10 wounded by gunfire this year.

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