Six-Year-Old Boy Shot By Neighbor Is Severely Traumatized And Needs Therapy

Only half Tamir Rice‘s age and already living in fear…

Source: Fox 2 / Handout

Every parent consoles children after bad dreams, but for Arnold Daniel and his son Coby, the nightmare never ended.  TMZ reports the 6-year old and his family and his family are grappling with mental and emotional wounds after a neighbor, Ryan Le-Nguyen, allegedly shot the boy for playing with his bike. After four years of sleeping in his own bed, Coby is terrified to sleep alone and always ends up seeking the comfort of his father’s arms. Still young enough for training wheels, Coby struggles to wrap his mind around the almost fatal shooting and repeatedly asks, “why would [the alleged shooter] do that?”

The bullet that went through the boy’s arm was just 1 inch away from killing him. If that wasn’t disturbing enough, Coby told Fox2Detroit that the violent attack began with the neighbor chasing him with a sledgehammer. Arnold already sought out a therapist to help his son deal with the devastating trauma. He will be taking time away from work to look after Coby’s emotional well-being and his own. The father has had anxiety since the shooting and outrageously low bail allowing Le-Nguyen to return home on bond to the neighborhood three days later.

Although Le-Nguyen was charged with assault with intent to murder, his bail was only set at at $10,000. After public outcry and an emergency motion was filed with new information about the depraved neighbor’s history of threatening the boy’s life in the past, a judge increased the bond to $100,000. The judge also ordered him to pay the full amount and turn himself in. At such a young age, Coby needs support in healing from both the brutal incident and campaign of harassment that led up to it.