Father demanding answers after son was shot at house party in Wilmer

WILMER, Ala. (WKRG) — After learning his 19-year-old son was shot during a house party, Mike Howell is demanding answers and pleading for people to put the guns away.

Mike Howell was in Orange Beach enjoying some time off from work when he learned that his 19-year-old son was shot in the back of the leg during a party in Wilmer.

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“The teen violence is out of control, and I just got to speak out,” Howell said. “We gotta find out who did it.”

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office told WKRG News 5 that a shooting broke out on Glenwood Road in Wilmer Saturday night. Howell’s son was the only person struck by gunfire.

“I thought he was dead,” Howell said. “I mean, it was devastating. Yeah, it was. I didn’t know what to do, you know, just was praying to God he was alive.”

With very limited information provided to Howell on the narrative of the shooting, investigators are still trying to figure out what led up to the shooting.

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Howell believes it all could have been prevented.

“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Howell continued. “And from what I understand, the party was not somewhere you want to be. It was a very rough crowd that was there, to put it lightly. A very rough crowd, and he shouldn’t have been there.”

Howell said his son is doing much better and has since been released from the hospital, but he wants the community to know of the damage pulling the trigger can do to someone and their family.

“It’s the underage teen violence in Mobile and not just Mobile—everywhere they need to put guns down, too,” Howell said. “Stop shooting. If you want to go party and have fun, go do it, but leave your guns at home.”

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So far, MCSO has not made any arrests or named any suspects in this case.

Howell said he is willing to pay $5,000 to anyone who has information about who shot his son.

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