Glory to the Brave

Corey Williams of the Associated Press wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 4:17 PM ET

DETROIT - As the gunman was about to open fire, 7-year-old Alexis Goggins lunged from the back seat of the SUV and threw herself across her mom, crying, "Don't hurt my mother!"

Six bullets from the 9 mm handgun slammed into Alexis, one piercing her right eye. Two slugs hit her mother.

Alexis' mother pulled through. But two weeks later, Alexis lies in critical condition, blind in one eye. And to her classmates and many people in this city so depressingly familiar with violence, the little girl is a hero.

"She was trying to save me," her mother, Seliethia Parker, 30, told The Associated Press on Monday. "My baby is just an angel to her mother. I thought as the mother, I'd be saving my child. I never thought my daughter would be saving me."

Alexis has undergone three operations since the shooting, and her mother sits by her bedside at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

As for the mother, she was seriously wounded, with one slug grazing her head and the other entering her chest and stopping just short of an artery. But she was released from the hospital just a few days later.

Parker's former boyfriend, Calvin Tillie, a 29-year-old ex-convict on parole, was arrested in the shooting and charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with other offenses. He could get life in prison.

Alexis is learning-disabled and lags behind other youngsters her age. As a result, police say it may never be known whether Alexis meant to shield her mother from the bullets with her body. But Parker said that if her daughter hadn't put herself in between, "I really don't know. We might have been dead."

Parker said she met Tillie earlier this year and called off the relationship after three months, but he had other ideas. "He was harassing me," she said. "He would constantly call my house, popping up in the middle of the night."

Shortly after midnight on Dec. 2, police say, Alexis and her mother climbed into their friend Aisha Ford's vehicle for a late night birthday get-together for Ford's mother. The girl got into the back seat, and her mother took the front passenger seat.

Tillie, who had been standing outside the house in the shadows despite the cold, jumped into the back of the SUV, next to Alexis, and forced Ford to drive at gunpoint for several harrowing minutes until the woman convinced him she needed to stop for gas, according to an account the women gave police.

Ford told police she tried to stall for time while pumping gas. As she and the station attendant called 911, several shots erupted from inside the vehicle. Police say the girl had jumped toward her mother in the front seat.

Parker bolted from the SUV, screaming. Officers found Alexis curled beneath the steering wheel in a pool of blood. Tillie was arrested at the scene.

His attorney, Kim Basen Michon, asked for a psychological evaluation for Tillie. The lawyer was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Monday.

In addition to losing her right eye, Alexis was shot in the chin and jaw. Several days after the shooting, the little girl, her face horribly swollen and wrapped in bandages, stirred and squeezed her mother's hand.

"She is doing much better," Parker said. "She opened up one eye. Everything seems to be going great."

In Alexis' special education classroom at Campbell Elementary School, her classmates have named a stuffed toy with pink ears "Hero."

"We didn't want Alexis' spot to be vacant, so she's got a sweet bear to sit in her place until she comes back," said her teacher, Angela Lang.

Alexis suffered a stroke before age 1 and has epilepsy. Her teacher showed off a journal revealing strides Alexis had made in writing over the past few months. What started as an illegible series of lines had evolved into distinct letters: A, L and E.

"I know she can do it. There's no stopping Alexis," said her mother's cousin, Tonya Blockett-Colbert. "It may take her a little longer now because of this. But she is a fighter."

3klicks wrote:A kid that young. It is amazing. But, on the other hand she really didn't deserve that. It would have been better if we didn't have any child heros... (but, I guess that would only be possible in a perfect world.)

Corey Williams of the Associated Press wrote:
DETROIT - Alexis Goggins climbed aboard a special tricycle and maneuvered through hospital hallways, beginning the months of physical therapy she needs to recover from six gunshot wounds. To many people, the soft-spoken 7-year-old is a hero after she threw herself across her mother just as a gunman was about to shoot the woman in an SUV.

"An angel is what I call her," Seliethia Parker said of her daughter.

After more than two months in the hospital and six surgeries, Alexis was recently released. She returns twice a week for physical therapy.

The young girl bears several scars from the Dec. 2 shooting, including a long, thin surgical line stretching from one side of her hairline to the other. Her right eye, which was blinded in the attack, has also been removed. During rehabilitation, she rides a tricycle designed to be pedaled with a person's hands and plays hand-eye coordination games.

"I'll be good for therapy," Alexis promised her mother before bounding back to the games.

Alexis speaks little about the shooting.

"She remembers bits and pieces, but she's not really talking about it much. It's like she's blocking it out or something," said Parker, 30.
The mother and daughter were getting a ride from a friend when Parker's former boyfriend emerged from the shadows outside Parker's house and jumped into the vehicle. He then forced the friend to drive at gunpoint for several minutes.

Under the pretense of needing fuel, Parker's friend stopped at a Detroit gas station to call 911. Inside the SUV, Parker pleaded with the gunman not to shoot. As he was about to open fire, Alexis cried, "Don't hurt my mother!" and jumped into her mother's arms from the back seat. Despite her daughter's efforts, Parker was shot twice.

Alexis is learning-disabled and lags behind other youngsters her age. As a result, police say, it may never be known whether Alexis meant to shield her mother from the bullets. But Parker has said that if her daughter had not put herself in between she might have been killed.

Calvin Tillie, a 29-year-old former convict on parole, is charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with other offenses. Parker said she met Tillie last year but called off the relationship after three months. The Associated Press left messages with his court-appointed attorney, Kim Basen Michon.

Since the attack, Alexis and her family have received more than 200 letters from well-wishers, some from as far away as London. Supporters have also contributed $30,000 to a fund set up for Alexis through her school. In addition to the physical therapy, she also meets with a teacher assigned to the hospital until she's ready to return to school. And in the coming weeks, she will be fitted with an artificial eye.

Parker says her daughter is a living miracle.

"I'm thanking God every day that me and my baby are still here," she said. "It has taught me to ... appreciate the smaller things in life."