Deadly Georgia Amber Alert: 911 call shows grandmother’s courage

COVINGTON, Ga. - The grandmother of a one-year-old who was the subject of an Amber Alert over the weekend is in an Atlanta hospital fighting for her life. According to a close friend and neighbor, 63-year-old Peggy Burns underwent surgery Tuesday at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center to have the bullet that struck her removed.

That neighbor and friend, Fred McClurkin, told FOX 5 Burns is a fighter by nature and said she showed that Saturday night as she fought to give 911 dispatchers the information they needed while she was critically injured.

Dispatcher: "911 what’s the address of your emergency?"

Burns: "Oh God, I need help."

With a bullet in her neck, Peggy Burns managed to make calls for help to a close friend and 911 Saturday night.

This, just moments after Darian Javaris Bennett, the father of her one-year-old grandchild broke into her home, and shot and killed her daughter, Keashawn Washington, then took off with the baby Jaquari Bennett. Bennett later killed the toddler and then himself.

NEIGHBORS STUNNED MOTHER, 1-YEAR-OLD CHILD KILLED

Burns: "A guy came in my house searching for my daughter and he shot me…Please help me. Please help me." 

Dispatcher: "OK. They’re coming ma’am…they’re coming…is anybody there with you?"

Burns: "My daughter."

Medics airlifted Burns to the hospital Saturday night where she was listed in critical condition. McClurkin said she and Keashawn would do anything they could to protect her youngest grandchild. 

"Very protective mother, the grandmother was very protective, so she had two very protective people," he told FOX 5.

According to McClurkin, Burns had just finished her last round of chemotherapy days prior to the shooting.

"For her to go all through that, and you know…and then this…it’s tough," he said.

While medics worked Tuesday to remove the bullet that pierced her body, he told FOX 5 she’s got a long road to recovery ahead and a hard loss to come to terms with on the other side of surgery.

"Ms. Peggy is in the hospital getting the surgery today and in her mind, her daughter is still alive, and the baby is still alive. So, after she gets through the surgery, and she’s got to heal too now, they gotta break it to her," McClurkin explained.

He told FOX 5 he believes she will make it through this tragedy, and he plans to be right by his friend’s side to support her. 

There’s no word on how Burns’s surgery went Tuesday. Close friends of the family said they are asking for privacy and prayers during this time.