Michael and Whitney Lash aren't sure why their house was picked. They don't know why a teenage gunman shot the father of two in each leg and fired shots at his wife and baby at their northwest Atlanta home. And the Lashes may never know.
But there is one thing the couple knows for sure. They won’t live in fear.
“It’s going to be a defining moment in our life, but it’s not the defining moment,” Michael Lash said Wednesday.
In an interview in his in-law’s living room and seated by his wife, Lash expressed his gratitude for the police officers who arrived within minutes on Aug. 16 as he lay helpless and bleeding.
“Those two police officers single-handedly saved my life,” he said.
Lash had opened the front door to a well-spoken teen who asked for a car jack. Lash told him he didn’t have one, but it was clear the teen had no intention of leaving, and he was joined by others who appeared to be about the same age.
“I knew in my heart I couldn’t let them in the house,” Lash said.
Whitney Lash was holding the couple’s infant daughter when she heard the gunshots in her home, and her instincts told her to run. She ran out of the back of the house, dodging bullets, until she was able to call 911 and run to safety. Whitney thought her husband had been killed, and her focus was on her baby.
“Put the bullets through me, but don’t hurt my baby,” she said she thought to herself.
Michael Lash was not only alive, but able to talk to her as police arrived despite being shot in both legs. Two-year-old Everson, asleep upstairs, missed all of it, but he’ll one day hear the story. Both Michael and Whitney say they both found bravery and courage that surprised themselves.
Lash was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital and later underwent surgery to insert a metal rod from his knee to his hip in his right leg. He’s unable to put weight on that leg, but says his recovery has amazed his doctors and physical therapists. Fortunately, his left leg wasn’t as severely injured. The bullets missed major arteries.
The Lashes say they weren't sure police would ever find those responsible, but both credit quick work by detectives leading to the arrests of four suspects.
“We’re extremely relieved that they’ve been taken off the street and aren’t going to be able to do this to anyone else,” Whitney Lash said.
It’s their faith that has guided them through, the Lashes say. And somehow, they are at peace, eager to move forward with their lives. Both say they have forgiven those responsible.
“God was up to something bigger than these guys coming in trying to steal from us,” Michael Lash said.
Friends of the Lash family set up a Go Fund me account to assist the family with medical costs. Michael Lash was to begin a new job the day before he was shot and didn't have medical insurance at the time he was injured.
Michael and Whitney Lash said they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, noting that many donations to the fund were made anonymously.
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