Mother Holds Vigil for Boy Shot in Face : Weapons: She hasn’t left hospital since her son, 14, was admitted after a gun he and a friend were playing with went off. He is critically hurt.

As Alicia Ayon held her son’s hand, she could feel the pulse of his beating heart.

“I know he knows I’m here,” whispered Ayon, as she sat in an intensive care room Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where her 14-year-old son, Victor Tamayo, lay unconscious from a gunshot wound to the face.

Ayon has maintained an around-the-clock vigil at her son’s bedside ever since Victor was critically injured Friday while he and 12-year-old Roberto Ortiz Jr. were playing with a loaded .38-caliber handgun. They were playing with the weapon in the living room of Roberto’s Van Nuys apartment when the gun went off, striking Victor in the left upper cheek. His wound is not considered life-threatening.

Roberto was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and later released to his father’s custody. Although he originally told police that his friend had accidentally shot himself, Roberto admitted after further questioning that he himself accidentally pulled the trigger.

But Ayon, 30, says she won’t know the “whole truth” until her son awakes.

“Victor had no reason to shoot himself,” she said through tears. “He’s not a cholo (gang member) and he knows right from wrong.”

The two youths met about two years ago when they began playing baseball for a local youth baseball team, said Danny Contreras, 18, the team coach. Victor plays center field and first base, and Roberto is a pitcher.

Hours after Friday’s shooting, Roberto told police he and Victor found the handgun a week ago near the baseball diamond at Delano Park in Van Nuys, where the team played.

However, Contreras said he has heard stories from another team member about handguns that the boy said belonged to Roberto’s father. The other team member told Contreras that he no longer went to Roberto’s apartment because Roberto “played with guns,” Contreras said.

Since Victor’s admittance to the hospital early Friday, Roberto’s father stopped by to apologize.

“He says not to worry and that he’s sorry,” Ayon said, a note of skepticism in her voice. She added that if Roberto were to approach her with an apology, she would walk away.

“I don’t even want to see his face. Not now,” she said.

Feelings are similar among the 30-plus family members and friends who fill the hospital’s pediatric waiting room both during and between visiting hours.

“I’m mad about what happened,” said Jose Meza, Victor’s uncle. “But right now I just want him to get better.”

Eleven-year-old Veronica Meza says she will continue to pray for her cousin until they can play together again. But until that day comes, she said, “Me siento triste” --”I feel sad.”