Kemper Teen Recovering

Kemper County Teen De Welch is on his way to recovering while being in a critical care unit in Jackson.

His team looks forward to his return for the 2020 football season

Monitor intro a winston county teenager remains in the hospital tonight after allegedly being shot by his uncle... 17 year old de welch is in the critical care unit at university of mississippi medical center in jackson... welch plays football at nanih waiya high school.... our quentin smith speaks with coaches and players about how they're coping.

Quentin... how is everyone holding up?

Joey..

As you can imagine they're devastated... the football team is a brotherhood... now they're trying to stay strong for welch... hoping he'll soon be able to join them on the football field again..

Nat when the nanih waiya warriors hit the practice field this morning.... to the naked eye everything appeared to be normal....but it wasn't.... they were without their sophomore linebacker de welch... " i know he'd do anything he could to be down here with us right now."

The 17 year old was shot multiple times...and is now hospitalized fighting for is life..... " they're heavy hearted obviously as we all are, but we are just praying that dee gets healed quickly and he will get back to us."

The alleged gunman is the teen's uncle, 38 year-old frederick nunn... the kemper county sheriff's department says the two had a feud prior to the gunshots.... at this time investigators aren't sure what the feud was about.

" we were shocked and heartbroken that something like this could happen to a kid that is so young and undeserving."

" i was sad, i was upset, i was camping and i couldn't even enjoy it, i was so sad.

That's one of my best friends."

Coaches and teammates describe welch as a spark plug.... someone who was always full of energy... " he'd always make you laugh, even whenever it sucks and it's 90 degrees and hot as can be, he doesn't get tired, he's just running around and has so much energy."

" he never had bad days, he always worked hard and he was never down."

" he played really hard, the way you want kids to play, they did it with a smile on his face."

Nat the team ended the practice by taking a knee... putting their arms around one another... and praying for a successful recovery for welch... the football team prides is itself on being a family.... this family is now leaning on one another to stay strong for themselves and their brother.

De is a great kid and god is not done with him yet.

He's got a plan for de's life obviously since he spared him through such a tragedy, we're just ready to see you and put our arms around him and welcome him back."

Nun has been charged with aggravated assault... he's currently behind bars on a 75 thousand dollar bond.

Stinger