14-year-old Ga. boy left paralyzed after robbery and shooting; family desperate for answers

JACKSON, Ga. — Pamela Sims says a van and a cell phone was taken from her 14-year-old son before he was shot and robbed while visiting a friend in Jackson, Georgia.

“This is heartbreaking, it’s devastating,” Sims said.

Sims says her son rode to Jackson with an older relative on Christmas Eve. He thought he was meeting up with a friend, who he’d known for months. She says that friend allegedly set her son up during an apparent robbery. Her son was shot two times, but the relative he was with was not injured.

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“One of the bullets went into his right arm and the other ricocheted up and it’s stuck in his spinal cord right now. He’s basically paralyzed from the chest down,” Sims said.

The police chief for the city of Jackson Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln they’re actively investigating this case. And in an effort to not jeopardize the case, they can’t comment further.

Numbers from the National Gun Archive show gun-related injuries among teens nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022 in the state of Georgia.

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“He loved his nieces, he loved us,” Sims said.

Sims says her son, who loved cooking and spending time with family, is adjusting to this new reality while they anxiously await an arrest.

“Regardless of my child being in the wheelchair, me as a parent, I will make sure I stand strong for my child,” she said.

Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to contact the City of Jackson Police Department at 770- 775-7535.

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