A 6-year-old shot three times by an AR-15 rifle during an Aug. 15 shooting will be paralyzed for life, Mobile District Attorney Keith Blackwood said Thursday during a preliminary hearing for the three suspects charged in the case, WPMI reports.

The child was shot as gunfire erupted at the Summer Place apartments on Azalea Road about 6 a.m. The three suspects — Zaire Hughes, 18; Deante Jenkins, 18; and Jamayal Williams, 19; — are accused of firing multiple rounds into the apartment where 6-year-old Kingston Franks and two other children were sleeping.

Det. Alexis Kinzer testified during the hearing that three bullets from an AR-15 struck the boy. Kinzer said Jenkins admitted to firing the AR-15 into the apartment, while the other two suspects are accusing each other of firing shots from a Glock 17 handgun.

According to the report, Kinzer testified shell casings found at the scene match the Glock 17 Williams had in his possession, but the AR-15 has not been recovered.

The shooting appears to have been the result of a dispute between Hughes, who lived in the apartment above the one where the shooting occurred, and two brothers — Kelton Franks, 22; and Kentrail Franks, 20 — who lived in the apartment below with the young children. Kinzer said there had been a break-in at Hughes’ apartment and he believed the Franks brothers had been involved.

Kelton Franks is the 6-year-old’s uncle and was also in the apartment at the time of the shooting. Kinzer said he dragged the wounded child into a bathroom and tried to stop the bleeding from the three gunshot wounds.

During the hearing, Hughes’ attorney Marcus Fox suggested police may have denied his client the right to legal representation before questioning — an assertion Kinzer disputed, saying there are recordings of the suspects being read their Miranda rights and agreeing to talk with investigators.

Jenkins’ attorney, Tom Walsh, said the mental capacity of his client may be in question.

A Mobile County Grand Jury will now determine whether enough evidence exists to indict the suspects. A fourth suspect, 22-year-old Myasia Pettway, is accused of driving the vehicle in which the suspects fled the scene. Pettway waived her preliminary hearing and her case will also head to the grand jury for a determination.