BESSEMER, Ala. (WIAT) -- There are new details about the 13-year-old Bessemer boy who was killed last week in what police describe as a drive-by shooting.
Allen Thomas was lying in bed when his home was shot into Friday night. He was taken to Children's of Alabama, where he died early Saturday morning.
Thomas’ mother, Erica Chaney, described her son as a friend to everyone. The seventh grader loved to read and was looking forward to joining the football team.
“He loved to dance," Chaney said. "He would bust out dancing. People would stop looking at him laughing. They would start dancing with him. He didn’t do anything to nobody."
Police said the Friday night shooting was targeted, but Thomas was not the target.
“It’s another senseless act of violence we are seeing across the country right now," said Bessemer Police Chief Michael Wood.
Chaney said she was in the room with her son when the shooting happened.
“I heard one gunshot, and I’m like 'somebody shooting,' then I heard another gunshot," Chaney said. "I see they are coming through the wall. I’m like, 'They shooting in the house.' That’s when I jumped out the bed and snatched my baby off the bed, and that’s when I see he'd been shot through the neck."
The Bessemer Police Department has received tips on the case. Wood said detectives are working around the clock to find the shooters.
“Any information we put out could be detrimental to the investigation, so they will be no more information forthcoming at this time,” Wood said.
Chaney said she wants justice for her son and is asking the public for help.
“If they see something or know something, come forward because my baby didn’t deserve this at all,” Chaney said.
The Bessemer Police Department is asking anyone with information on this shooting to submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.