5-year-old Athens girl to have eye removed after shooting during dance class
ATHENS, Ga. - A 5-year-old girl is recovering after a shooting left her injured and in jeopardy of losing her eye.
April 26 is a day that replays in Dance Coach Ny’isha Harris’s mind.
"My instinct was to grab somebody. Help everybody, but I couldn’t help everybody," she told FOX 5. "I just immediately went into mommy mode. Not even a coach or director. I had daughters there too. I had a 13-year-old and a 3-year-old."
All of a sudden, bullets began to pierce the windows of where the Dynamic Dolls of Athens dance group were practicing.
Harris says it started from an argument outside.
"When he extended his arm I told the girls to drop and run to the back," she said. "One of the girls injured was standing in front of the window. I grabbed her and tried to run."
Police say they aren’t sure if the 5-year-old was shot in the eye or if it came from bullet fragments, or glass. Doctors will have to remove her eye next week, according to a GoFundMe organized by the family. A 14-year-old girl was also shot in the arm.
Police arrested and charged 38-year-old Rasheed Scott in the incident.
Rasheed Scott
Harris says it’s not the first dance with danger.
"We were there having practice when someone ran in with a gun in their hand. With a loaded weapon in their hand."
As Harris searches for a safe place for her girls to practice, she knows they will eventually get back to dancing together.
"We are a family first. I always say that. We are a dance team, but we are a family first, and we are going to stick together and get through it," Harris said.