She had no idea the sounds she heard were gunshots.
“I thought they were setting off fireworks for the kids,” Megan Holmes said Friday afternoon.
She and her four youngest children were at a neighbor’s cookout Thursday evening in south Fulton County when she heard the shots, followed by screams. Her children were inside an inflatable bounce house, and when she got to 3-year-old Lawrence, he was bleeding.
“Mom, they shot me! They shot me!” Lawrence was screaming.
He'd been shot in the back, and another child, a 5-year-old girl, had also been shot, along with a man in his 20s.
Investigators had not identified any suspects Friday, but some witnesses believe the shots could have been fired from a vehicle. Holmes didn’t see anyone with a gun, but was terrified that her family was once again caught in gunfire.
Last year, her 24-year-old brother was shot and killed in New York, Holmes said. Her mother had urged her to move to Atlanta last summer with her six children, and Holmes did. Now she wants to move again — away from Buckhurst Drive.
“I don’t understand why you would shoot at a bounce house,” Holmes said. “All of my kids could’ve been hit. I could’ve been hit running toward the house.”
Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be firing at the bounce house, Channel 2 Action News reported. Investigators found more than 40 shell casings at the scene.
Lawrence was taken first to Southern Regional Medical Center. From there he was flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where he underwent surgery to clean a wound to his back. Somehow, the bullet missed doing significant damage, Holmes said.
Friday afternoon, Lawrence was able to eat Chinese food and make a trip to the hospital’s library. And not long after, he was released.
“They said if it was a couple more inches, it would’ve hit his lung and it would’ve been horrible,” Holmes said.
The other injured child, whose name was not released, was shot in the stomach, according to witnesses. She was in critical condition Friday. The injured man, whose name also was not released, was able to walk into the hospital himself for treatment, Holmes said.
Holmes’ family, including her mother Deanna Titus, are hoping the young girl recovers quickly.
As for Lawrence, he’s a fighter, Titus said. And she credits her son who died, Najee, with looking out for the boy.
“He’s on his way to recovery, thank God and his angel, Uncle Najee, up above,” she said.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 404-577-8477.
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