WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – A teenager was injured in a shooting in the Wilmington area.

Wilmington Police Department (WPD) officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert on N. 31st Street and found a teenage juvenile in a yard.

He was taken to Novant Health Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

Neighbors tell WECT that the young man lost a lot of blood and was struggling to breathe.

“Nobody deserves to die just from like, living life, walking around. It’s crazy,” said Dwayne Doughty, a neighbor who lives on N. 31st St.

When Doughty saw the teen struggling, he said he rushed to help.

“I come out here to see a young kid bleeding. He didn’t know what to do, he was running trying to go through my back fence right there, because he feared for his life, and I don’t blame him. Nobody wants to be in that, in that situation, and don’t have nobody to help,” said Doughty.

Doughty said he hopes he helped the teen survive.

“I was trying not to let him panic — bleeding as much as he was — but we tried to keep him calm. We kept him calm, and hopefully he’s alright,” said Doughty.

Doughty said he lost his cousin in a shooting a couple of years ago on the same street — just feet away from Tuesday’s shooting — making the incident much harder on him.

“Losing a lot of people, so I just don’t understand it. Today just brought back too many memories for me.”

Now he’s asking when the gun violence will ever stop.

“They don’t realize all the pain and pressure and stuff they’re putting around on people like me, people’s mothers, people’s families, people dying,” said Doughty.

Police are investigating the incident.

No arrests have been confirmed at this time.

Anyone with information is urged to call WPD at 910-343-3609 or use the text 411 app anonymously.

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