It’s every parent’s worse nightmare. 19-year-old Gavin Quichocho was with a group of about 10 friends enjoying the evening, barbecuing and listening to the sound of the ukulele outside a friend’s home in Spanaway, Washington. That’s when all hell broke loose, the sound of gunshots ringing out through the air like fireworks.
PNC’s Jolene Toves spoke to the 19-year-old’s mother, Marylynn Quichocho, who shares the horrifying moment she received the call saying her son was shot in a suspected drive-by shooting on Saturday.
“I see his Whats app voice call calling my phone so I answer it. But it wasn’t him that spoke, it was his friend Josh and he goes hey Auntie..and I go hey Josh how are you and he goes it’s Gavin and I said what do you mean its Gavin? And then he goes there was an incident that happened here at my aunt’s house and Gavin got shot,” Quichocho said.
She added: “At first they heard two shots, they thought it was fireworks, and then all of a sudden it just boom, boom, boom boom boom and they were running into the house for coverage,” Quichocho said.
According to a report from South Sound Media Productions, the suspected drive-by shooting occurred just after 10 pm on Saturday, August 29th on the 1200 block of 199th Street Court East.
Gavin was shot on the upper leg, the bullet passing through the back leg muscle and exiting through his front thigh.
“Within … I don’t know … maybe 10 minutes, we actually made it to the destination because we live not too far from where the incident happened and I got down and I ran … I ran like there was no tomorrow,” Quichocho said.
She added: “I ran and I saw him. There were tons of cops … the medics were there tending to him and the person who owned the home, she actually grabbed me and hugged me and said ‘you know he’s okay, a lot of us did a very quick response’ especially after realizing that he was shot,” Quichocho said.
Gavin was immediately taken to Tacoma General Hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound. He is now recovering at home.
According to Marylynn, the drive-by shooting is being investigated by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. No arrests have been made.
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