Teenage Boy First Baltimore Shooting Victim Of 2012

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City records its first shooting of 2012 and the victim is just 13 years old.

Adam May has exclusive details from an eyewitness.

Right now, the young teen is recovering at a hospital. An eyewitness tells WJZ another child pulled the trigger.

"They don't fight anymore with fists. It's guns these days," the eyewitness said.

The man---who we aren't identifying---fears for his life. Just after dark on New Year's Day at the corner of Old York and Oakland, the Baltimore resident says he witnessed a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle attacked by other teenagers, then shot numerous times in the upper body.

"I saw him actually pointing down, the sparks from the gun, then pop, pop. I heard three shots," he said. "And I think it was another kid, not a man. A bunch of kids [were] right around the corner."

This neighborhood is no stranger to crime. Just a few blocks away are some drug dealing hot spots. Despite that, many families with children call this area home.

"It's just a troubled world we live in. The children [are] off the chain," said Lilly Holmes.

"That's sad. it's horrible that kids can't be safe in the neighborhood like that," one man said.

Many residents in the neighborhood crave peace, hoping the shooter is brought to justice.

Police are not reporting any leads in the case.

Juvenile shootings are down 70 percent in Baltimore since 2007. Still, 28 were shot and 14 died in 2011.