Samaje O’Branty is home, four months after the 11-year-old was shot in the back of the neck by a stray bullet near Torresdale Avenue and Margaret Street.
Samaje spent a month at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, then three months at Weisman Children’s, a rehabilitation hospital in Marlton, New Jersey, where aides helped him learn to walk and talk again.
The HellRaisers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club joined a police escort that took Samaje to his new home on Harrison Street in Frankford. Samaje is presently in a wheelchair, and the home has a ramp that leads to the front door. He has a first-floor bedroom that adjoins a bathroom and shower.
“He’s happy to be home,” said Aaron O’Branty, his dad.
“This is one of the greatest things that can happen,” said his grandfather, Lorenzo O’Branty. “We put everything in God’s hands.”
A fifth-grader at Sullivan Elementary School, his rehabilitation will continue with a specially designed bicycle.
“It’s great for him to be home now,” said his great-aunt, Anita Williams. “He’s been dying to come home.”
The shooting took place on Nov. 6, with the gunman firing from a car at a group of men on the corner. The individual who shot Samaje has not been apprehended. ••
