CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested three men in connection with the Wednesday afternoon shooting of an East Mecklenburg High School student.

Jonathan Reyes, 17, Gabriel Cisneros, 19 and Daniel Jiminez, 20, were arrested in connection with the shooting. All are charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Investigators said the shooting was gang-related, but that the victim was an innocent bystander.

According to the Sheriff's Department's Web site, Reyes has been arrested twice since December 2008, and Cisneros has been arrested seven times since 2007.

Officers said Daniel Jiminez was driving the getaway car after the shooting, but police don't believe he pulled the trigger.

The victim, 15-year-old Amari Boyd, was shot in the leg in the parking lot of BJ’s Warehouse, at the intersection of East Independence Boulevard and Conference Drive.

•SLIDESHOW: Police Arrest 3 In Connection With Student Shooting

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Paramedics said the girl, who is a 10th-grade student, was walking home from school when she was shot. She was treated at Carolinas Medical Center and released Thursday. She said she considers herself lucky that her injuries weren’t worse.

“It could have hit me anywhere, and I'm kind of glad it hit me in my leg, [rather] than hit me in any other part of my body,” Boyd said.

Boyd was walking with friends when they stumbled upon a group of men fighting. She said they slowed to see what was happening.

“One of the dudes who got beat up really bad, he got mad and he got a gun from the car, and started shooting,” she said.

One of the bullets went through Boyd’s left leg, just above her knee.

“I looked down and I had blood everywhere, all over my legs,” she said.

She said she was terrified.

“I was screaming, like [a] horror film scream,” Boyd said. “I just couldn't believe it.”

Extra officers were at and around East Mecklenburg High School Thursday for additional security, but other students walking home near the area where Boyd were shot said they weren’t concerned for their safety.

“I feel safe walking around here,” Aaron Chambers said. “I walk down here every day.”

But Boyd, who is currently on crutches and won’t return to school until at least next week, said she won’t be walking home anymore.

“[I’ll be] riding the bus or getting a ride home from my mother,” she said.

CMPD Gang Unit Capt. Glen Neimeyer said this incident was rare, because gangs in Charlotte usually only bother other gangs. He said if bystanders are caught in the middle, it doesn’t generally happen in the middle of the afternoon along a busy road.

“It was an oddity; it was very unusual,” he said. “That’s why we were surprised when we found out what it was.”

Niemeyer said a relatively new tracking system holds information on every known gang member in the area. That system, combined with tips that came in, allowed police to quickly identify the suspects.