4-year-old boy back home after drive-by shooting

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - As four-year-old twins Markel and Markayla play on their grandparents’ porch, you can see life is just about back to normal, despite the scar left to heal on Markel’s tummy. He spent two weeks in the hospital after getting shot.

It wasn’t anyone the family knew. In fact, the bullets from a drive-by shooting August 11 shattered a family barbeque with twelve grandchildren on the porch. A bullet hit Markel in the back and severed his liver. He would have died if a bullet hadn’t first gone through the hand of a family friend who swooped in to pick him up from a tree in the front yard.

His grandfather who Markel calls Papa said he is beyond grateful to still have him living.

“He’s blessed, he is truly blessed,” said Gerald Eatman. “Since he’s been home, he’s (said) ‘I gotta sleep with Papa.'"

Healing inside and out is slow. Eatman said Markel does go back in the house when he sees a stranger driving slowly on that same corner.

Police have not made arrests in the shooting but are looking for a person of interest. If you know anything about this shooting, call the TIPS hotline at 474-TIPS.