A devastated mother has spoken out following the death of her five-year-old son, who was shot and killed during a drive-by shooting.
The shooting happened Thursday in Winston Hills, Ohio – a small suburb of Cincinnati.
It saw Artagist Stanford III’s life snuffed out by a stray bullet, which hit him as he slept in a room he shared with his younger brother.
The projectile came within inches of his sibling, his mother Terrie Fahey said. Police said they have still not found a suspect and it is being treated as a homicide.
Artagist – better known as Arty – succumbed to his injuries two days later, his mom revealed later that same day.
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The shooting happened Thursday in Winston Hills, Ohio – a small suburb of Cincinnati, and saw Artagist Stanford III’s life snuffed out by a stray bullet. The boy, better known as Arty, is seen here
His mom, Terrie Fahey, spoke to multiple news outlets on Saturday to reveal how the boy had died after two days in the hospital
‘Whoever did it, I hope they feel really bad and sick to themselves for doing this,’ Fahey told WLWT-5 through a steady stream of tears Saturday.
‘It needs to stop,’ she added, citing current rates of crime.
‘It really needs to stop because innocent children are getting killed for no reason and losing their lives before they can even live it.
‘They killed an innocent 5-year-old boy that was going to be something in life,’ she went on to declare.
‘And there was no reason for it.’
As she spoke, donations began to trickle in to a GoFundMe started earlier in the day – currently at $2,070.
The number, however, is well short of the family’s $20,000 goal.
The money, Fahey said, will go toward putting the boy to rest and care for her other two children, a boy aged three and a one-year-old girl.
‘Whoever did it, I hope they feel really bad and sick to themselves for doing this,’ Fahey told WLWT-5 through a steady stream of tears Saturday
‘They killed an innocent 5-year-old boy that was going to be something in life,’ she went on to declare. ‘And there was no reason for it.’
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said her department had yet to identify any suspect, and still remain oblivious when to a motive
The devastated mom told the local outlet how she was grateful her other son did not suffer the same fate as her brother, who was rushed to an ER at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where he ultimately passed.
‘I thank God my younger boy didn’t get hit by the bullet,’ Fahey, who coincidentally works at the same hospital, said.
‘My baby boy should have never gotten hit,’ she went on to add – before airing a message meant for her firstborn’s killer or killers.
‘I would tell him or her they are very sick in the head and I don’t care what else happens to you or what happens to you in the long run because you killed my innocent baby that meant the most to me,’ she told the reporter.
‘And now his relatives have to survive without him.’
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said her department had yet to identify any suspect, and still remain oblivious when to a motive.
However, their investigation remains ongoing, she reiterated over the weekend, as the case is now being treated as a homicide in the wake of the tot’s death.
Meanwhile, a recent report out of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio shone a light on the state’s crime problem, after homicides there peaked during the pandemic.
However, their investigation remains ongoing, she reiterated over the weekend, as the case is now being treated as a homicide in the wake of the tot’s death
‘My baby boy should have never gotten hit,’ she went on to add – before airing a message meant for her firstborn’s killer or killers.
‘I would tell him or her they are very sick in the head and I don’t care what else happens to you or what happens to you in the long run because you killed my innocent baby that meant the most to me,’ she told reporters
‘And now his relatives have to survive without him.’ A bullet hole in the family’s home is seen here
In the years since, local law enforcement have failed to get incidents back down to pe-pandemic rates, with Columbus and Cleveland surfacing as the state’s hotspots.
The report reiterated how two of Columbus’ deadliest years on records were 2021 with 204 homicides and 2020 with 175 homicides – most of them carried out by gun. That number was down to 148 in 2023, still the third highest on-record
Cleveland, in contrast, had 192 homicides in 2020 and 165 in 2021, and was down to 152 in 2023 – still well above average.
As for Cincinnati, it has fared slightly better than its sister cities – as officials there have said crime is at an all-time low amid a steady decline in not only homicides, but violent incidents in general, seen since 2012.
Still, incidents of gun violence continue to plague Greater Cincinnati, demonstrated by four different shootings happening on very the same day just last month.
None of the four shootings were fatal, and took place across different neighborhoods of the city.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Cincinnati Police Department for more information on the recent incident.
