'I want them to pay': 8-year-old boy shot in the head while looking at Christmas lights

An 8-year-old Oklahoma boy remains in the hospital after he was shot in the head while he was looking at Christmas lights with his family.

Nichole Groshong was making food deliveries for DoorDash around 8 p.m. on Dec. 10 in Lawton, Oklahoma — approximately 90 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. In the car with the mother were her two young sons and their grandmother. While making DoorDash deliveries, the family would also stop to look at Christmas lights in the neighborhood.

The mom put the car in reverse while looking at Christmas lights when suddenly gunshots rang out.

“It sounded like somebody was throwing fireworks at the car,” Groshong told KFOR-TV. “Their grandma was like, ‘They’re shooting at us, go, go, go.’ So I threw it in drive, and I started getting out of there.”

Zachariah Bannister was shot in the head while sitting in the backseat with his brother. The boy had just celebrated his eighth birthday just days before he was shot.

Groshong said, "[His brother] was like, 'Zack’s bleeding.' Then, his little head started falling over toward his shoulders. His brother said, ‘Zack, you can’t go to sleep. You can’t go to sleep.'"

"I drove away as fast as I could,” Groshong explained on a GoFundMe campaign. “My kids said they were okay, but Waylon then informed me that Zack was bleeding and he didn’t know from where so I drove as fast as I could to the hospital while my oldest kept his little brother awake all the way to the hospital and they said that was the best thing he could have done.”

Once at the hospital, doctors noted that Zachariah had suffered a fractured skull and had bleeding on the brain.

The young boy remains at a children's hospital and is in the ICU with a blood clot near his skull fracture.

"They said that the bleeding has stopped," Groshong said. "He can move his arms pretty well, but he gets tired easily."

The mother said she is "so proud" of her son.

"My son, he didn’t deserve it," the distraught mother said. "He is just like the sweetest little boy."

Meanwhile, police made an arrest in the tragic shooting.

The Lawton Police Department arrested 30-year-old Jullian Phillips in connection with the shooting of the 8-year-old boy.

Sgt. Christopher Blessing told Law&Crime that Phillips has no ties to the family and it appears to be a case of mistaken identity. The suspect is reportedly not cooperating with law enforcement.

On Monday, prosecutors charged Phillips with shooting with intent to kill. The shooting suspect remains in the Comanche County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond.

Phillips is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 22.

Speaking about the man accused of shooting her son, "I want them to pay for what they did to my kid."

Lawton 8-year-old boy shot in head while looking at Christmas lights with familywww.youtube.com

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!