BURNSIDE — When gunshots rang out after a Christmas night celebration at her mother's house, Linda Copeland realized one thing.
"I sent my son to the van," Copeland said.
Her son, 14-year-old Darion Lemon, was shot three times early Friday morning in his arm while loading his mother's white minivan with leftovers from his grandmother's Christmas dinner — turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce — a tradition the family has celebrated for as long as they can remember.
After the shooting, the eighth-grader at Gillespie Magnet School in Roseland told his mother he was concerned he would be unable to perform his recently appointed duties as a hall monitor.
Copeland said she responded: "'You've got more important things to worry about."
The shooting happened at 1 a.m. Friday in the 700 block of East 92nd Place, police said. A dark-colored SUV pulled up and someone inside fired shots at Darion, police said.
Hours later, the minivan remained in front of the home of Copeland's mother. Windows were shot out and the food was left out in the car.
Darion was sent to Comer Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery Friday morning.
Copeland said her son saw the people in the SUV stare him down, but he didn't think anything of it until he got to the van.
When the shots started, he started running through alleys before returning to the front door dripping blood, other family members said.
"We're celebrating a holiday here," said Diane Copeland, Darion's grandmother. "This is something we do every year."
Family members said police told them that Darion, who dreams of being an animator and received video games for Christmas, may have been mixed up with another target.
Police wouldn't comment on motive.
"He keeps saying 'I don't know why they shot me,'" Linda Copeland said of her son. "I told him, 'Son, we are trying to figure that out as well.'"
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