Teen charged in Birmingham for shooting paralyzed 12-year-old boy playing with friends

A suspect has been charged in a shooting in Birmingham that left a 12-year-old boy paralyzed.

Joshua Allen Brown, 18, is charged with attempted murder in the March 22 shooting of Brandon “BJ” Roller, who has since celebrated his 13th birthday.

Charging documents against Brown were made public Tuesday and Birmingham police later announced the arrest.

Brown, of Center Point, was taken into custody on May 22, according to court records released Tuesday.

He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 9:04 a.m. and released at 12:09 p.m. the same day after posting $60,000 bond.

In a Facebook Live video earlier Tuesday, Brandon's mother, Courtney Chestner, said she was disappointed that other suspects had not been arrested and that Brown was already out on bond before police informed her of his arrest.

She said that while Brandon remains positive, the shooting stole his childhood and the aftermath has been a struggle for the family.

“It was just traumatic for us,” Chestner said. “And I relive it every day.”

The shooting happened around 3:15 p.m. that Friday at a small apartment complex in the 1800 block of Carson Road.

Chestner, said he asked him if he could go outside to play that day.

“I told him he could,” she said in a previous interview with AL.com. “I always tell him no, but for some reason this time I told him he could.”

Chestner was upstairs in his bathroom and his three other sons, all younger than Brandon, were in their bedroom watching television. That's when Chester heard a noise.

“I thought maybe one of the younger boys had stuck something in the socket because it was a popping sound, like fireworks,” she said.

She went downstairs and saw a boy running into her house. He entered through the back door and rushed to the front door.

“I turned toward the back door and that’s when I saw my son lying on the ground,” Chestner said. “He said he was shot.”

“I dragged him from the back door to the kitchen because I didn’t know if they were shooting again,” she said. “I called 911 and put towels on his back.”

When Brandon was able to talk to him, he told him that some teenagers had approached him and the others and asked them if they knew anyone. Brandon told them no, and they said something like “that's good because if you did, you were all going to die today.”

Another boy asked the teens, “Are you going straight?” and that's when gunfire broke out.

Brandon ran and was just inside his apartment when he was struck. The bullets went through the back door and entered his back, his mother said.

Photos of the apartment Chestner showed on Facebook showed several bullet holes inside the family's apartment. She has since moved.

Chestner said the bullet hit Brandon's spinal socket, passed through one of the bones, passed through his right lung and fractured his rib.

“They say there's no chance he'll ever walk again, but our faith is so strong that we know it's going to take a lot of work and dedication,” she said. “He’s so strong, so strong.”

Although doctors say Brandon, a seventh-grader at Smith Middle School who played the baritone horn in the school orchestra, will never walk again, the family prays his faith will produce a different outcome.

Brandon has remained strong and positive since the shooting.

“Don’t be sad, because I’m alive,” Brandon said in a previous phone interview from his bed at Children’s of Alabama. “I did it. I got through it. I'm fine.”

A GoFundMe to help the family remains in place. Donations can be made here.

Brown's first short is scheduled for June.