LAWNDALE, N.C. — Cleveland County deputies say they're investigating after a toddler was shot in Lawndale on Sunday.
"It's a sad situation," neighbor Joseph Lee said.
WCNC Charlotte initially confirmed a 2-year-old had been reported shot at a home along Douglas Street, just down the road from a church. The boy is alive and was flown to Charlotte for surgery.
In a news conference later in the afternoon, Sheriff Alan Norman said the call came in just before 10 a.m. Responding deputies got to the house and said the scene looked like a possible drive-by shooting, but it was too soon to make that final determination.
The boy was found wounded inside and initially taken to a local hospital before being flown to Charlotte.
According to Norman, the boy was alert and responsive. Still, Norman called for prayers for the boy and his family. He said the child was in the front part of the house but declined to say which exact room and who was with the boy at the time.
Norman indicated the bullet likely went through either a window or the siding of the house.
"We need to keep that child in our prayers, this is unfortunate and uncalled for," Norman said.
Norman said the case is still fluid and changing rapidly, as the investigation is still in its earliest stages. The scene is being treated as a drive-by shooting as of writing as the shooting was called in as such, but there is a possibility that could be ruled out in the investigation.
Joseph Lee lives next door. He found out what happened in church.
"Hit to the gut when it was said, 2 years old he was just over here in the yard on his little tricycle, I was telling him about riding his bike," Lee said. "Just a lovely little boy."
The quiet neighborhood is still in disbelief. Lee saying these days, there are too many guns and too much violence.
"Nothing happen around here in years since maybe the early 2000s," Lee said. "They need to put the gun down, whoever did it."
Anyone with information about this is asked to call the sheriff's office.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.