ATLANTA – The family of a 17-year-old shot at a spring break pool party in Atlanta said their son has a long road to recovery. 

Atlanta police arrested a 17-year-old for the shooting this week. 

On April 2, Robert and Camaria Johnson said their son, Robert Johnson III, was at a spring break pool party at an apartment complex at 935 Marietta Street, when gunfire broke out. 

“Robert was actually a bystander,” Camaria Johnson said.  

He got hit three times, once in the back, once in the shoulder and once in the head. 

“We couldn’t believe it, we didn’t believe it,” the couple said.  

They told us doctors had to remove part of Robert’s skull to relieve swelling in his brain.  

Miraculously, Robert survived, but he’s in bad shape. 

He can breathe on his own, but that’s about all he can do at this point. 

“He’s pretty much in a vegetative state…if his dad comes in and talks to him, he’ll open his eyes, but he doesn’t know which side he’s on,” Camaria said.  

Just this week, APD’s Fugitive Unit arrested 17-year-old Jalin Hammons for the shooting and charged him with aggravated assault.  

“I’m glad some justice is finally being served…it’s unfortunate, but you caused this issue and now you got to pay for it,” Robert Johnson Jr. said.  

Right now, these parents are more focused on their son’s recovery. 

They said the Shepherd Center told them he wasn’t “rehab-able.” 

“That’s the word she used, meaning he didn’t have any functions, he wasn’t able to do anything. So, they didn’t see the need to accept him into long-term acute rehab,” Camaria said.  

After weeks of searching, the couple has found a facility in Indiana that can give their son long-term care in his current condition.  

It’s going to be expensive to transport him there. 

“We’ll probably have to get an Angel flight there if Grady transport can’t get him the 9 hours there so he would need to be flown,” Camaria said.  

That’s why they’ve started a GoFundMe, to raise the funds to get him to Indiana. 

Doctors didn’t give Robert much of a chance for recovery of functioning. 

The Johnsons said he’s already defied the odds just by staying alive and believe he can eventually recover some functionality.   

“He wasn’t supposed to make it, with the trajectory of the bullet, he was not supposed to make it to Grady,” Camaria said.   

“He’s fighting every day, he’s a strong kid. I got faith that he’ll come through, even if I don’t get the same son back as I had before, at least my son will still be here. And I can still love him, I can still talk to him, I’m still able to see him, I can still hug him,” Robert Jr. said.  

They said they don’t like asking for help but need support if they’re going to get Robert to that facility in Indiana.

ATLANTA – Police are investigating a shooting incident that left a 12-year-old boy injured in Atlanta. The incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. at the intersection of Martin Luther King Junior Drive NW and Hamilton E. Holmes Drive NW. 

According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers arrived at the scene to find the young boy suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including injuries to his stomach and arm. Despite his injuries, the boy was able to speak with medics before being transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. 

The identity of the victim has not been released, and details about the shooter remain unknown. The Atlanta Police Department’s Aggravated Assault Unit is leading the investigation as they work to gather more information about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. 

Anyone with information related to the incident is urged to contact the Atlanta Police Department. 

This story is breaking. Check back for details. If you have additional information, pictures, or video email newstipsatlanta@fox.com.

The last US zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall.

Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday.

There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it is likely to happen between October and December.

The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.

Atlanta received Lun Lun and Yang Yang from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire.

Ya Lun and Xi Lun, born in 2016, are the youngest of seven pandas born at Zoo Atlanta since their parents arrived. Their siblings are already in the care of China’s Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding.

It is possible that America will welcome a new panda pair before the Atlanta bears depart. The San Diego Zoo said last month that staff members recently travelled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer.

Zoo Atlanta officials said in a news release they should be able to share “significant advance notice” before their pandas leave.

As to whether Atlanta might see host any future pandas, “no discussions have yet taken place with partners in China”, zoo officials said.