She wants nothing more than to go outside and play with her friends and to ride her bike in the summer. But in October, a stray bullet temporarily paralyzed the 9-year-old from the waist down, making many ordinary childhood activities out of reach.

The girl is recovering more quickly than expected, her mother said, and she hopes to be able to frolic outside with friends again soon. But in the meantime, the girl and her mother, who are not being named by the Globe because they fear for their safety, said they are happy that a man was arrested this week in the shooting that injured the girl. On Wednesday, Boston police arrested Dominique Jerard Finch, 27, of Dorchester, who is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

“I feel good they finally caught him,’’ the girl’s mother said Thursday during an interview at the family’s home. “I don’t want that to happen to another child.’’

The girl was shot while playing outside at a birthday party in Roxbury at 1 a.m. on Oct. 9. The mother refused to talk about that day, saying the memories were too painful. Police said the girl was struck by “indiscriminate’’ gunfire that might have come from another party nearby.

Their lives changed in that instant, the mother said, and they’ve had to adopt new routines. For the past few months, the girl has used a wheelchair to get around, and the family had to install a chair lift and ramp at their home. Because she is being homeschooled while she recovers and is no longer able to play outside, the girl’s friends often stop by her home to visit and play Playstation with the girl.

The mother said she and her daughter have found comfort in friends and family — the girl’s grandmother came from the Dominican Republic to help care for her and her 2-year-old sister.

“She has a lot of people talking to her telling her to keep her head up,’’ the mother said of the girl she described as “happy and humble.’’

But the pain her daughter experiences four months after being shot is still “really strong,’’ the girl said.

The mother is relieved that doctors have said the girl is recovering more quickly than expected, and she will soon get a leg brace and crutches to help her begin to walk again.

Meanwhile, the man accused of shooting the girl will face charges of assault to murder, aggravated assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a firearm when he is arraigned. Finch has been charged in the past with beating a man at a pub in Brighton and, in a separate case, assaulting a police officer. The disposition of those cases was not known Thursday.

Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said in a statement Wednesday that detectives worked tirelessly to find the person responsible for shooting the child and those detectives now “look forward to presenting a strong case in court to bring justice for this little girl and her family.’’

Jan Ransom can be reached at jan.ransom@globe.com.