KIMBERLY, WI (WBAY) – A 9-year-old boy who was shot in the face with a BB gun as he hosted a lemonade stand Monday has reopened the lemonade stand with his brother and friends.
Fox Valley Metro Police say Evgeniy A. Tetzlaff, 19, shot the boy at about 3:45 p.m. on Arthur Court in Kimberly.
Parents of Jayden Grant tell us he was shot near his left eye and had to go to the hospital.
“This car was driving by and I was on a bike, I turned the corner, this guy had this gun out the window. He shot it and it went right here,” said Jayden Grant about the incident.
Jayden’s mother said her son’s lucky it wasn’t worse, because it was so close to his eye.
“It was embedded in there and they had to dig it out, but what if it hit his eye and the bone wasn’t there to stop it? Would it have penetrated his brain? I don’t know, I don’t know, but he probably would have lost an eye, that’s for sure,” said Leah Grant.
Police arrested Tetzlaff, who they believe was involved in two other incidents in Kimberly Monday, including a theft from a vehicle at Kimberly High School.
After that, police took a report of someone shooting a BB gun at Sunset Park.
Officer Michael Lambie of the Fox Valley Metro Police added, “We’re hoping more people come forward and other victims. Again, being a BB, some people are not apt to report it as much as they probably should be, so we’re asking anyone that had an incident similar to this yesterday or any more information about this to please contact us.”
Police say Tetzlaff has been jailed on a charge of injury by negligent use of a dangerous weapon.
He is a suspect in unrelated thefts and ordinance violations, police say.
Tuesday afternoon, Jayden was back at his lemonade stand on Arthur Court.
His parents encouraged him so that he wouldn’t be afraid of the neighborhood.
Jayden said of the shooter, “He can change his life around. He can make better choices.”