Brandon Wilson was shot in the back at the age of 14. As part of an initiation, a group of friends was playing with a BB gun and he was shot while trying to run away.
“It showed me that you shouldn’t play with guns,’’ Wilson said.
Wilson, 17, attends Amistad High School in New Haven.
He aspires to attend law school one day and run his own law firm, however, he has been recruited by DePaul University, North Carolina State University and Mount Ida College to play basketball. He hopes to play basketball in college.
In past years, Wilson said he had a history of poor behavior. He said he skipped practices and a game with a friend and was suspended for seven games.
He has since gotten back on track, winning a trophy in a Christmas basketball tournament and maintaining a spot on the honor roll.
He also has a history of bad injuries. At 14, he fell onto a rusty pole, gashing an eyebrow. The next year, he was elbowed in the face, resulting in a gash on the other eyebrow.
Meagan McAdams is a junior at Montville High School.