UPDATE, 11/14: Eureka High Principal Rick Jordan Outlines the School’s Response to Last Week’s Pellet Gun Shooting

# # # 

Kim Avila-Mullins, a Eureka resident and mother of the student most seriously injured by a pellet gun shooter outside Eureka last week, wrote this story about what happened to her son and her family and asked us to share it.

Here you go.

Here is the real story…….EXACTLY how it happened……MY SON WAS SHOT ON HIS LUNCH BREAK LAST THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH AT EHS. Honestly, I have been too emotional to share this story. WE NEED HELP FROM THE COMMUNITY TO FIND THIS PERSON.

Last Thursday, my husband was on his way home from a business trip. I had just arrived in Medford for my annual Christmas shopping trip with my dad and sister. My phone rang at 1 p.m. It was my son. He said: “I have been shot. It may be a pellet, I don’t know, but I am bleeding.”

This is NEVER a call any parent should EVER receive. Here is what happened.

My son and 5 other friends decided to walk to a store on their lunch break. This was my son’s first time ever walking to this store. My son buys Cheetos and an iced tea, and they walk back to school. While walking down L Street toward Del Norte, my son is shot in the chest. He feels as though he is hit with a hammer in the chest and stumbles backward. He looks down to see his shirt soaked in blood. More shots are fired. Everyone runs, in a frenzy, screaming “We are being shot at.” One child runs back to help my son, since my son is out of breath and is unable to run. More shots whizz by their heads. Shots are hitting the ground. Another boy is shot in the spine at a much further distance. They stop when they feel as though they are out of range and grab their phone to call 911, but realize shots are still being fired.

They keep running to the school. They run to the office where they see the school officer. In the meantime, I call my mom and she is on her way to the school. She walks in to see my son, white in color, with a blood-soaked shirt. The principal looks at her and says, “This is why freshman should not be allowed off campus.”

The paramedics are called. They check my son’s blood pressure. It is extremely high. They look at the gunshot wound and tell my mom to take him home and clean it up. The school officer gives him a bandaid. Nobody phones me from the school. None of the other parents of the victims are called by the school personnel. There is no lockdown. Hundreds of kids walk down Del Norte Street to the Ag building moments after this occurs.

I speak with my son and mom on my way home whenever I can get reception. My son has gone into shock. I have my mom cover him until we get home. My husband and I both arrive home at same time. We are completely shocked when we see him. The hole in his chest is substantial. We attempt to take him to ER. He wants to be in our house and to not go anywhere. We bring him back in. We decide that dealing with his emotional needs are more of a priority, since the paramedic said he was fine. We are still concerned with his physical wound. We stay up all night to watch him.

We arrive at ER at 8:30 am Friday. The ER doctor is in shock that we did not bring him earlier. We explain that he was assessed by a paramedic and that we were dealing with the emotional aspect. The ER doctor is appalled that the paramedic did not take him to ER in the ambulance. The doctor tells me that he could of died the night before. An X-ray is taken and reveals that a pellet has traveled 3 inches into his body. It is lodged below his sternum and has stopped just before reaching his organs. The doctor tells me that if he would have been turned even slightly in either direction, it could of killed him.

My son endured several hours of intense surgery that day under a local anesthesia, since he was fainting and in shock. He unfortunately was able to watch the gruesome surgery as well. He was placed on 48-hour watch, to make sure his lungs did not collapse.

Here are some facts: They know that this shooting was 100 percent a random act. A case of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. These kids were walking on the street. They were doing no wrong. NOBODY HAS BEEN CAUGHT!!!!! WE NEED HELP FROM THE COMMUNITY TO FIND THIS PERSON OR PERSONS WHO DID THIS.

My son is so brave, he is doing well, and physically, he will be ok. We just want so much for the responsible person to be caught. PLEASE HELP US!!! IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING PLEASE CALL 911. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. WE ARE HOPING THAT HE IS CAUGHT SOON BEFORE THE NEXT INNOCENT CHILD IS HURT.

PREVIOUSLY: Four Students from EHS Apparently Shot by Pellet Gun