Chase Lamar Smith was sitting on his porch with his wife late Sunday night when he heard the shots ring out and saw a white shirt moving in the shadows of his neighbor's lawn.
The boy, 15, had ran about a third of the way down the 400 block of Alcott Street in Northeast Philadelphia's Lawncrest neighborhood before stopping on the stoop of a house, collapsing and falling down the stairs.
Smith turned to his wife, Tiona: "He must have been shot."
The events that followed left Smith, an impassioned youth advocate, shaken, prompting him to take to social media the next day and ask others to get involved with the kids in their communities.
"Our kids aren't safe in these streets, man," an emotional Smith implores in a Facebook video. "At what point to we take accountability for our environment?"
'AM I GOING TO DIE?'
Chase asked Tiona to run inside and grab a blanket and call 911 before rushing to the boy, who told Smith he'd been shot and asked for his help.
As he applied pressure to the site of the most blood, the boy collapsed further into his lap.
"It was like, 'these are my last breaths, these are my last words.' " – Chase Smith, of the 15-year-old boy shot multiple times in his neighborhood
"I tried to keep him calm and reassure him nothing would happen to him," Chase told PhillyVoice.
Suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, the young teen asked Chase: "Am I going to die?"
Chase tried his best to reassure him he would not.
"It was like, 'these are my last breaths, these are my last words," Chaise said of the boy's gasping pleas.
Tiona joined her husband at the boy's side and the boy asked them to call his mother. He told Tiona to tell his mom he loved her. Tiona remembers thinking: "He thinks he's about to die."
The boy would survive; he was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center for surgery, where he is listed in critical but stable condition.
According to police, there are two suspects in the shooting — black males, one wearing a black hoodie and the other a white hoodie — but no arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon. A motive is unknown.
AN EMOTIONAL APPEAL – ON VIDEO
Since the shooting, Tiona said she's been in touch with the boy's mother, who lives in the neighborhood and arrived at the scene "in shock." The mother told Tiona Monday morning the boy is expected to recover, and thanked Chase for comforting him before authorities arrived.
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The shooting left Chase rattled, too. The couple has lived in Lawncrest for a little over a year now. They moved from Hunting Park, hoping their new neighborhood would provide a safer environment and more space for their youngest child, 6, to play.
The incident struck a particularly sensitive nerve in a couple that is so invested in the development of young people. Chase took to Facebook the next day to describe the harrowing experience in a video and make an emotional appeal to others in his community.
"Our kids, they need a chance. They need a chance. They need us. They need the people in their communities to step up and say, 'We're going to lead you,'" Smith says in the video, viewed more than 21,000 times as of Tuesday night. (Warning: The video contains some rough language.)'THIS IS WHAT I AM TRYING TO PREVENT'
Chase and Tiona are both active in trying to help young people in Philadelphia. Tiona has been running a nonprofit called TT-Time that's been aiding high-risk young girls for the past 11 years, providing artistic outlets such as dance and talent competitions as well as open forums to discuss issues like sexual awareness, rape and domestic violence.
Chase started his own nonprofit, No Dreams Deferred, about two years ago that aims to provide city youth opportunities with the arts, crafts, music and other tutoring programs. The organization has reached more than 350 kids in its short existence, Smith said, adding it has hit numerous "roadblocks," particularly with funding. It can be incredibly frustrating and at times disheartening, he said.
So when he was cradling a bloodied 15-year-old boy in his arms, he was reminded of why he runs No Dream Deferred on top of a 9-to-5 job and a side hobby as a standup comedian.
Making sure youth have resources is imperative, says Chase Smith. "It can be the difference between picking up a gun or a guitar."
"This situation with the young man, it kind of gives everything meaning again," Chase said. "What I'm trying to do is more purposeful, because this is what I'm trying to prevent."
No Dreams Deferred wants to purchase a building in West Philadelphia to house a regular after-school program. An online fundraising campaign has a goal of $20,000 for the down payment, with a little more than $4,000 raised so far.
Incidents like the shooting Sunday night show why others need to get involved in reaching out to the young people in their neighborhoods and try and provide them with constructive resources, Chase said.
"It can be the difference between picking up a gun or a guitar," Chase said.
Tiona said that only a few days earlier, they had been talking about why it was important to continue the work they were doing.
This isn’t first her first encounter with violence. Tiona's lived in North Philadelphia for a good part of her life — “I’ve seen some things,” she said.
Despite that, she’s not desensitized to it, and doesn’t allow it to deter the couple's efforts. Sunday’s shooting was "traumatic," but it was a stark reminder of why they need to stay involved.
"Yes, it's tough, but don’t give up, because there's such a need for the work that you're doing," Tiona said.