NEW ORLEANS — Gun violence, and the lives it takes, makes headlines almost every day, but we often don't see the stories about those who survive and whose lives are forever changed.
Now a family is trying to cope after an innocent little girl was caught in the line of fire.
Lives changed forever
The school bell rings at the end of the day. Children run to catch the school bus home. But that simple, familiar routine is something seven-year-old Chlo'ee Williams can no longer do.
Early afternoon on November 24, police arrived on the scene of a drive-by shooting in the 2500 block of North Prieur Street. Fifth district officer Daniel McCreary found Chlo'ee bleeding face down in the street.
"I thought the worst when I first got there because of the amount of blood, but she started to talk to me," said NOPD Officer Daniel McCreary.
Struck in the back, face and neck by bullets, she looked at Officer McCreary and spoke words that should never come from a child.
"She asked me if she was going to die when I first got there. I told her, "No," that it wasn't that bad and she was going to be ok," he remembers.
But he knew otherwise. His army combat training and service kicked in. He grabbed a little black bag, a first aid kit his wife gave him for Christmas. He used gauze and its plastic wrapper to improvise, making a chest seal so air would not escape from her collapsed lung. His words kept her calm while waiting for EMS. What lasted a few minutes, felt like hours. Sure training moves you to action, but the sad reality, moved his soul.
PHOTO: Officer McCreary was briefly reunited with Chlo'ee on her dismissal from the hospital
“I've got four kids and one's seven years old as well, so I don't think you can really prepare for that,” said McCreary.
After more than two months in Children's Hospital and rehab, Officer McCreary got his wish to see Chlo'ee again.
“Excited and nervous,” said McCreary waiting for Chlo’ee to get out of the hospital that day. “The last time I saw her she was getting in an ambulance and I didn't know if she was going to make it.”
But after the balloons, gifts and hugs end, after the news story on another senseless shooting has aired, after police remove the crime scene tape, after doctors and nurses fight to save another life from violence, the Williams family faces a lifetime of reality with Chlo’ee paralyzed from the chest down.
Not crying in front of my kids
The welcome home signs are faded. Inside, a single mother of two feels the pain of those bullets every day.
“Oh my God, I hate talking about myself like this because it makes me cry. I hate to cry,” said Chlo’ee’s mother, Leronisha Williams. When asked if she feels that sometimes she deserves to cry, she responds, “Not in front of my kids.”
Then Chlo’ee chimes that she knows her mother has been crying, "because her eyes be red.”
You quickly realize nothing gets past Chlo'ee's wit. And nothing will stop 27-year-old Leronisha Williams from giving her daughter a full life.
“I made a promise to myself, my kids (are) not going to be homeless again... So I saved. I saved a lot, and then the pandemic happened and I was on top,” she said.
Leronisha is proudly independent, and a hard worker, putting value on earning a living through a job. A very difficult childhood put her out on her own as a young teen, but now she realizes her waitress job would be difficult. She must care for Chlo'ee's most basic needs. Everyday back and forth from school and at home, she must tend to Chlo'ee's every bathroom need. Medical science is currently equipped to help Chlo'ee walk again.
We must find our purpose
“I can't give up, although I want to and have many thoughts to give up, but it's just like I can't because I know if I give up and leave this world who gonna take care of them? Nobody took care of me,” said Leronisha.
This petit woman has unmatched strength of body, mind, and spirit.
“You're not really supposed to question why God allows something to happen, and that's something I'm kind of struggling with. And I'm also trying to teach Chlo'ee, because she was asking me. ‘Did God know the people was going to do this to me?’ And I told her, ‘Yeah, He did. He wrote it out. He wrote our lives out before we was born, and it's up to us to live it the best that we can and find our purpose here,’” Leronisha said.
Chlo'ee's happy-go-lucky personality allows her to see her mom's strength differently.
“I think she gonna be a bodybuilder,” laughed Chlo’ee.
Leronisha can't understand why gunmen would pull the trigger over and over when innocent children were playing in the line of fire. As she puts those feelings into words Chlo'ee steps in.
“Anger but not hate because you never hate nobody,” Chlo’ee tells he mother.
“That's absolutely true,” her mother answers.
Still Chlo'ee wants the shooters to understand the emotional toll.
“Because like what they did to me and if they were seven and I did that to them they wouldn't like it, and I don't like it,” said Chlo’ee.
Chlo'ee's best friend Layla Engel is at her side.
“I'm really sad and sometimes. I just feel like it would be better if it was me than her because she's only a little girl,” said Layla Engel. When reminded that she too is a little girl only in fifth grade, she answers, “Yes, but I'm older. She has a life to live still.”
Layla says Chlo'ee is unchanged and still the happy little girl with lots of attitude who speaks her mind.
'I didn't imagine life like this'
“Like she thinks she could tell me what to do but I'm the mama not you,” says Leronisha.
Chlo’ee answers, “I'm the boss of the house but you pay the rent.”
“Girl,” her mother says back.
Leronisha is indebted to Officer McCreary for saving her precious daughter. She is figuring life out one day at a time. She is trying to launch a business at home called “Customize Ya Life,” making personalized items so she can be there for her children.
“I love you 1,000 percent,” Chlo’ee says to her mother.
“I love you too,” her mother answers back.
“I didn't imagine life like this. I didn't think that I was going to be pushing a wheelchair around. It's hard. It's very hard. I just need her to know like, it's not over. You just have to adjust and we are going to readjust,” reassures Leronisha. “Girl, give me a hug.”
"I love you," said Chlo’ee.
Police have not charged anyone in this case.
The Williams family is hoping to get a wheelchair ramp for their home.
Go Fund Me page:
Home Business for personalized items: “Customize Ya Life”
@customizeyalife on Instagram.