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Shot teen recalls asking to be okay
By JAMIE JONES
© St. Petersburg Times, BROOKSVILLE -- Thomas Hastings lay quietly, 700 feet in the air, in a helicopter bound for a Tampa hospital. Blood soaked his T-shirt. His neck throbbed. The 13-year-old wanted to be brave. But here, up in the sky, wind thrashing all around, Thomas doubted that he would make it. He closed his eyes. "Let me be okay," he said as the helicopter moved closer to land. Thomas was shot in the neck by an 11-year-old friend on Sunday. He gave his account of the shooting during an interview with the St. Petersburg Times at his home on Olympia Road Wednesday. He had been unable to talk about the incident because of swelling in his throat. Mostly, what he remembers is the noise: the bang that filled his friend's house on the hot, sunny afternoon. The two had been sitting beside each other on the floor, legs crossed, fingers pressing small black buttons as they played Nintendo. Thomas doesn't remember the game, only that it was about dragons, that he and his friend were trying to destroy each other on the screen. The two had been friends for years, traveling a dirt path from house to house, playing in the woods together, riding bikes. He didn't think much of it, he said, when his friend left the room and walked across the hall. All he remembers is hearing his name. He looked over. He saw the rifle in his friend's hands. He heard the bang. Thomas pressed his hands to his ears. His neck burned and he wondered if the bullet had grazed by. He looked up and saw his friend's face. "You're bleeding," his friend said, and Thomas began to notice that his gray T-shirt was changing colors, becoming darker. He felt a sharp pain in his neck and it began to throb. The paramedics arrived, wrapped Thomas' neck in bandages and decided to airlift him to Tampa General Hospital. Thomas' father, Paul, rushed to the house and held his hand. "You're going to be all right," he told his son quietly. Thomas' older sister, Monica, a 16-year-old who is usually arguing with her brother, stood nearby. "You'll be fine," she said gently. But Thomas could tell they were worried, and so was he. In the air, he kept his eyes on a television screen that monitored his vital signs, including his blood pressure: 88, 99, 100, the screen read. Thomas didn't know what the numbers meant, just hoped they were okay. Thomas was released from the hospital Monday. He is in good condition, but doctors remain concerned about swelling in his neck and possible infection. Thomas, an eighth-grader at Parrott Middle School, was at home Wednesday, wearing a brace around his neck as he walked barefoot in his room, which is filled with video and board games. A poster of dinosaurs hangs on his wall. "I still like guns," he said, smiling: "As long as they're not pointed at me." Thomas learned to shoot guns when he was 10. His father, a Vietnam veteran, says he has taught his son to be safe. They go hunting sometimes, looking for hogs in a nearby swamp. Thomas' father wants to know why his friend's parents had a loaded gun loose in their home. "I have several firearms and they're locked up all the time," he said. "I want to know why it wasn't." The Hernando County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the case. Lt. Joe Paez said Wednesday that detectives were interviewing the boy, who fired the gun a second time, and were continuing to examine physical evidence. Paez said the 11-year-old boy and his parents could be charged with culpable negligence if deputies collect evidence that shows the parents were negligent in leaving the gun in the home or if the 11-year-old intentionally shot Thomas. The suspect is not being named because of his age. The 11-year-old told deputies that he did not think the gun was loaded and only intended to scare Thomas. His parents said they thought the rifle was unloaded. A deputy checked all other guns in the home and found that they were not loaded, according to the Sheriff's Office. Thomas said he plans to return to school next week. As for his friendship with the 11-year-old, Thomas said, "I just don't know."
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