EASTPOINTE, Mich. -- A Michigan father is injured and a boy is arrested. Now, police are trying to figure out what happened.

Police arrested a 12-year-old boy who they say shot his father twice in Eastpointe. The father, Fred Farmer, and his son were in their home when the shooting occurred, police said.

Farmer is recovering in the hospital and told police he was shot by his son.

Moments after he was shot, Farmer grabbed his cell phone and called 911.

In the 911 call that was played for reporters, Farmer yelled, "I've been shot."

The Detroit Free Press reported that the 911 operator asked if the gun was still in his home and he yelled again, "I've been shot in the chest!"

When he was asked if his son was still in the home, he said, "He ran out."

Police said the son shot his father in the chest and arm and then rode off on his bicycle and dropped the gun on the balcony of a nearby apartment building.

"Pretty unusual and tragic. Father and son lived together in the home alone. At this time we don't know what prompted the shooting," Inspector John Calabrese said.

Police said the boy told them he had been abused. The father told police he was just trying to control an out-of-control child, Detroit TV station WDIV reported.

The boy's friends and neighbors told the Macomb Daily that the boy was the victim of routine and vicious beatings by his parent.

The Macomb Daily reported that the boy told his friends on several occasions that his father beat him with his hands and a television cord on the back, arm, legs and buttocks. The paper also reported that friends said sometimes the boy was hit as punishment for poor grades or other offenses, but that the beatings were regular.

One boy told the paper that he saw the child's father pick him up and slam him to the floor.

Police said the boy obtained the gun from another family. Prosecutors are expected to make a decision Thursday on whether charges will be filed.