A night of homecoming happiness nearly turned tragic for a Chicago teenager after she was shot in the back on her way home from her high school homecoming game in the Roseland neighborhood last week.
Jakyah Harris, 15, shared her story with NBC 5 and said the trauma will live with her forever.
“You hear about people getting shot and killed,” she said. “You ain’t never think it would be you though—it’s still shocking right now.”
The freshman at Butler College Prep had just left the homecoming football game at Gately Park with her friend last Thursday night. She said they were walking when out of nowhere they were confronted near 105th and Rhodes by a group of men in black ski masks.
“There was a gang of boys, they walked up on us and they just started shooting and we turned around and started running,” she said. “All I could do was run.”
Harris said she ran into an alley and even hid behind a garbage can not realizing she had been shot in the lower back.
“I actually tried to get help,” she said. “But a man, he came outside. He was looking around. I told him to help me. He went back in the house.”
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Harris was just steps away from her grandmother’s house. Her cousin heard the gunshots.
“She just called me and when she called me I just started crying I was like I think I’m shot,” she said.
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Family rushed Harris to Roseland Community Hospital before she was transported to Comer Children’s Hospital where she underwent surgery to remove the bullet.
“It was just like flashbacks from like when I loss my son in 2014, so I’m like, I can’t take another loss,” her grandmother Dorothy Holmes said.
Holmes is urging people in the community to put the guns down.
“We got innocent babies that’s the one mostly being affected by it innocent kids,” she said. “Some of them will never get to be able to grow up. Some of them going to be traumatized from it.”
While it’s going to take several more weeks for Harris to heal, she’s already eager to get back to school. She told NBC 5 she’s a cross-country runner, she loves to dance, and she’s a former cheerleader. She’s been coaching her younger sisters and can’t wait until she’s fully recovered to get back to her normal routine.
“I just gotta be strong. I’m gonna get through it,” she said. “It’s going to be a long recovery, but I’m getting there.”
Harris’ family started a GoFundMe page to help with her medical expenses. As for her 14-year-old friend, he survived after being shot at least 7 times. Police have not released a motive for the shooting.
