15-year-old recovering after 'random' shooting in Auburn

An Auburn 15-year-old continues to recover from multiple gunshot wounds as police work to track down a suspect in a "random" shooting that happened last weekend.

AUBURN, Wash. - An Auburn 15-year-old continues to recover from multiple gunshot wounds as police work to track down a suspect in a "random" shooting that happened last weekend.

In the early morning hours of Saturday, June 29, Talon was playing some late-night basketball with his friends when they were approached by a random car that fired rounds at the group.

According to Talon's family, he was walking over to Olympic Middle School so they could play on the lighted courts, something he and his friends typically do.

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"He’s the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet. Not a bad bone in his body. He doesn’t ever want to let anyone down," said Brittania, Talon's mom.

Talon was shot in the face, back and thigh, but still somehow managed to get up and run home to call for help. On Thursday, he took some of his first steps since the shooting.

"He had one on the bridge of the nose on the right side that came through and severed a part of his carotid artery," Brittania said. "Multiple fractures, a broken jaw, a broken rib."

A home security camera captured the incident, which shows Talon and his friends walking by and at least 30 shots ring out shortly after.

"He said he had fallen about four houses down or so and laid there and said to himself, ‘I’m not going to die,’ and that had given him the energy to get back home," said Talon's dad, Derek.

Talon said an out-of-body experience propelled him, somehow making it back home around 2:30 a.m.

"I woke up to him bursting in with blood on his face," Derek said. "He was airlifted to Harborview, and that was the scariest part of the whole thing I think."

The football player and track athlete is well-liked by teachers and students, and he hopes to eventually get back on the field and into the pool.

"He likes to do backflips and play out in front on our hoop and just shoot baskets," Derek said.

And despite the trauma, Talon hasn't lost his sense of humor.

"His spirit isn’t broken, he’s up there making jokes and making the doctors laugh, his spirit is unbreakable," Derek said.

Talon will eventually have surgery to make sure he doesn't have breathing problems down the road. His family says they are staying in the hospital until he can take medicine and eat on his own again, which could take months.

Talon's family has also started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.