Three teenagers were arrested after they shot a Black man nine times after he told them they weren’t allowed to say the n-word.

A photographer, identified as CT, was taking pictures in a Phoenix, Arizona, park when 18-year-olds Ricardo Mendoza-Sanchez and Angel Ortega Romero and a 17-year-old asked him to take their picture, according to 12News.

When the group asked if they had to pay, the 33-year-old photographer said the picture was free. The interaction took a turn for the worst when the teens, who are Latinx, began to use the n-word, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. CT caught the exchange on Facebook Live.

"My man, I told you you can't say the n-word, you're not Black,” CT said to them.

"I say what the [expletive] I want," one of the suspects responded.

“No, you cannot…not in front of me,” CT said.

CT expressed his disapproval one more time before gunshots rang out. The photographer was hit nine times before he called 911.

“While I was on the ground I was just praying and asking God not now…I was just saying not now, not…not now,” he recalled to Fox10.

Thankfully, the trio wasn't the smartest criminals in the world, letting CT keep his camera. The picture he took before the fight led to their capture.

Romero and the 17-year-old were armed with handguns when they were caught. One of the suspects tried to draw his gun and point it at the arresting officers but they were able to take it away from him.

Mendoza-Sanchez admitted he participated in the attack during a police interrogation.

Mendoza-Sanchez, Romero and the 17-year-old were charged with aggravated assault and street gang activity.

CT believes attempted murder is a more appropriate charge.

“It was two people that shot me and they shot me nine times, so how can you call that aggravated assault like what was aggravated? Like they tried to kill me?” he questioned.

Despite the relatively light charges, CT is lucky to be alive.

"Oh yeah, it’s a complete miracle that’s a blessing cause lot of people have been shot only one time and they didn’t even survive,” he said.

Following the arrest, the police recovered methamphetamine, four guns and a ballistics vest from two addresses associated with the attackers.

Angel-Ortega-Romero

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