Two teenagers were seriously hurt after being shot in Phoenix on Saturday night, according to the Phoenix Fire Department.
The shooting happened near 35th and Peoria avenues around 10:30 p.m.
Fire officials said both of the victims, 15-year-old boys, were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
According to the Phoenix Police Department, witnesses told officers that the teens had walked into a business in the area and took several items without paying.
Police say the teens were then confronted by a man in the parking lot who asked them to leave the stolen items.
The teens then dropped the items and reportedly started to hit the man when they saw he was armed.
Police say during the assault the man fired his weapon, hitting both of the teens.
Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
“He was just screaming at us, ‘get down on the ground, get down on the ground!’ and we’re telling him, ‘we’re minors dude, you don’t have to shoot us.’ We even put the stuff on the ground,” said Michael Ward, one of the teens who was shot.
“That’s when he [Chris] started wrestling with the gun. I started coming in ‘cause I'm not gonna let my brother fight by himself, so I just started trying to get the gun away from him,” said Ward.
Stay with ABC15 and abc15.com for updates on this developing story.
