This is a harrowing tale that almost sounds more like a nightmare, where a man is shot in both legs while trying to protect his wife and children from four black teens who demanded to come into his Atlanta home.
This is the best reporting of what actually happened:
And here’s the abbreviated 911 call I picked up from another source:
WSB RADIO – Sumter Street in northwest Atlanta around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when someone knocked on their door.
Police say four teenagers asked to borrow a jack for their car, then tried to force their way inside.
When Michael Lash tried to close the door, police say the teens shot him in the legs.
Jessica Huffman fought back tears talking about her son-in-law’s bravery.
“He said, ‘I can’t let you (in) because my wife and two children are in there.’ They said, ‘We want to go in and see them,’” Huffman told Channel 2’s Amy Napier Viteri. “So they shot him in his leg and then they shot him in his other leg.”
When Lash’s wife, Whitney, heard the shots, she grabbed their infant daughter and ran toward the back door. The home invaders fired two shots at her, but missed.
She was able to escape out the back door and run to a nearby home for help.
“He followed her and caught up with her at the gate and she turned around and said, ‘Please don’t shoot me, I have a little baby.’”
The couple’s 2-year-old son was upstairs asleep when it happened. He was unharmed.
Huffman says the man told Whitney to give him her cellphone as several others ransacked the home, running off before police arrived.
“I just hate it for those young boys that they’re doing this to their life, but if they’ve done it once I think they’ll do it again,” Huffman said.
After the shooting, the home invaders ran off. Police are looking for four males, believed to be teens.
Petersen spoke to Lash’s wife Monday, who said he was having surgery and is expected to be OK.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help out the family if you would like to donate.
I saw one report this morning that said the husband has a shattered femur. He may be expected to live and be okay in that sense, but a shattered femur is pretty serious. The GoFundMe page was setup because of a lapse in insurance the means some of his medical bills won’t be covered. He was just about to start a new job.
UPDATE: From the GoFundMe Page:
Mike is out of surgery and the doctors say he should have a full recovery. I am blown away by the generous donations by friends and strangers! God is good!