A Fulton County prosecutor shot multiple times last month by her estranged husband is currently paralyzed from the waist down, her father confirmed Monday.
In a statement sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, longtime Atlanta political operative Kevin Ross said his daughter, April McConnell, has been transferred from Grady Memorial Hospital to the Shepherd Center to begin “an extended period of rehabilitation for her spinal injury.”
Ross said in an e-mail that the shooting left his 31-year-old daughter paralyzed below the waist. Asked if she may ever walk again, Ross replied, “It is too soon to say.”
McConnell, 31, and Levon Hailey were sitting in a car parked in southwest Atlanta when they were shot April 25 by Tranard McConnell, the estranged husband of the Fulton assistant district attorney. Tranard McConnell’s body was found a few hours later at a south Fulton County cemetery. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
April McConnell, who had initiated divorce proceedings just four days earlier, was shot in the forearm, face and back, Ross said. She underwent six operations in one week to repair her arm and jaw and to fuse her spine.
“We are relieved that each operation was deemed successful by the attending physicians,” Ross said in a statement.
Hailey was shot six times, according to Ross, but none of the bullets struck vital organs. The 39-year-old Lithonia man is expected to make a full recovery.
April McConnell, part of the team assigned to the Atlanta public schools cheating trial, is considered a rising star in Atlanta’s legal community. The Emory Law school grad now face “a long road to recovery,” her father said.
A fund has been established for McConnell at Wells Fargo Bank (account name: “April McConnell Donation Fund”). Contributions can also be made online at https://www.youcaring.com/april_mcconnell.
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