In Washington neighborhoods with more than their share of violence and tragedy, vigils to pray for the victims or to mourn them have been frequent. But last night, in the wake of the severe wounding of a child, a vigil included something a little different.

The mother of the 9-year-old boy who was shot in the head Oct. 3 took time to express her gratitude to three D.C. police officers, whom she credited with helping her son survive despite a grievous wound.

“All three of y’all’s speedy thinking saved my son’s life,” said Monique Nichols, mother of the boy.

“I appreciate you,” she said.

The boy was an innocent bystander who was hit above the eye during an exchange of gunfire in the Mayfair Mansions area of Northeast about 9 p.m.

The officers, according to previous accounts, recognized the severity of his wound and did not wait for the arrival of medical aid.

Instead, realizing that life hung in the balance and that seconds counted, they took the boy in a police cruiser to a hospital in Prince George’s County.

The boy is conscious and responding to treatment, his mother told about 300 people at the vigil.

She told of how he was able to move his hands and wiggle his toes. Small milestones, but for the moment, they appeared enough to offer hope.

Prayers were offered — for the boy’s recovery, for the community where the shooting occurred and for the three police officers.

In interviews, the three told of their responses. First on the scene, near a playground, was Officer Stephen Giannini. After placing a towel around the boy’s head, he said, he took him to the other officers, who were nearby in a cruiser.

Officer Shannon Strange told of holding him in the back seat, trying to keep him alert and responsive, asking him to wiggle his hands, to move his feet.

At the wheel was Officer Thomas Moore.

With the boy in the back, he threaded his way through traffic, trying to keep from losing a precious second on the way to the emergency room.

No arrests have been made in the shooting.

At the vigil, which began in a nearby church before moving outdoors to the shooting site in the 3700 block of Hayes Street, children released purple balloons as a symbol of hope.

The assembly, said organizer Greg Rhett, was to anoint the playground, to stave off harm to other children there.

“We come to pray” for the boy’s healing, said D.C. Council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7).

Mayoral candidate Muriel E. Bowser (D-Ward 4) was also there, as was council chairman Phil Mendelson (D).

In addition to the prayers, there was cheering. Cheering for the boy and for his recovery and for the officers.

Nichols had certificates of appreciation for the officers.

“Along with the Lord,” Nichols told the officers directly, they had saved her son’s life. “He’s holding on,” she said. “He’s breathing. He’s alive.”