LAKELAND (FOX 13) -
A 12-year-old Lakeland boy was scheduled to have surgery Tuesday night after being shot in the arm, leg and hip in a drive-by shooting the night before.
Aleek Saint Aime was sitting on the porch of a home on West Third Street with his cousin, when an SUV rounded the corner and someone opened fire.
The blood, "was pouring out, like putting milk in a cereal," his cousin Anthony Butts, told FOX 13.
Aleek stumbled into the living room and collapsed on the couch.
"He was asking me, ‘Momma, why me? Why me? Why does this have to happen to me?' " his mom, Melissa Noel, recounted.
Noel is convinced the shooting is gang related because she says one of her nephews is a gang member. Police are taking her theory seriously.
"I think it is at least gang related or affiliated. At least some of our information indicates that," Lakeland Police Department's Capt. John Thomason said.
Police are looking for the suspects in the drive-by. They were in a 90s model black and silver SUV.
If you know anything, contact the Lakeland Police Department at (863) 834-6900.
