Police are searching for the group of people responsible for shooting and robbing a teenager in Winnetka on Oct. 29.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. when 16-year-old Jesse Trafton was leaving a 7-Eleven with a group of friends.
The teenager recalls the terrifying moments leading up to the ambush near the intersection of Roscoe Boulevard and Mason Avenue.
"I saw people behind the car jump up wearing ski masks and started going surrounding my friends, that's moment I knew something was wrong," said Trafton, "He asked for more like my phone, I didn't have anything like that on me and he was like 'Come on give me more,' and I didn't know what to do and that's when I pushed him and that's when he shot."
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The bullet went through his left rib cage and lacerated his spleen and kidney, hitting his pancreas and causing a spinal fracture with severe nerve damage.
The teen has been recovering in the hospital going through multiple surgeries and rehab.
Trafton says he remembers seeing about five people inside the 7-Eleven staring at him and his friends, says it's unclear how old the group was, possibly teenage boys or young men.
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The teenager loves skateboarding and has been told he may walk again in 6 months to a year, along with he physical injuries, there's also the emotional healing to be done.
"I might have been targeted in that situation, they were just looking for violence, but I don’t know how I am going to go about my life after this without being in some sort of fear," said Trafton.
No arrests have been made and surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven has been handed over to detectives.
"I don’t know if it was adults or if they were children, but somebody needs to be held accountable for something," said Amanda Trafton, Jesse's mother.
