A young boy is recovering in the hospital after being critically shot in Lawton, Oklahoma. Zachariah Bannister, who had just celebrated his eighth birthday, was sitting in the back seat of his mother's vehicle enjoying a Christmas light display with his family when a bullet struck him in the head.
The suspected shooter, Jullian Phillips, has since been arrested.
According to Fox59, the incident took place on December 10 while Zachariah's mother, Nichole Groshong, was delivering food for DoorDash in southwest Lawton with him, his brother, and their grandmother.
Groshong explained that throughout her shift, she repeatedly stopped outside homes with elaborate holiday decorations so that she and her two sons could enjoy the displays together.
During one such stop, Phillips allegedly opened fire on the vehicle while Groshong was reversing outside the home.
"It sounded like somebody was throwing fireworks at the car," she said. "Their grandma was like, 'They’re shooting at us, go, go, go,' so I threw it in drive, and I started getting out of there."
One of the bullets punctured the vehicle and struck Zachariah in the head. His brother was the first to notice that he was bleeding, and informed their mother.
"His little head started falling over toward his shoulders," she said, adding that his brother kept telling him, "You can't go to sleep. You can't go to sleep."
Groshong sprung into action, driving Zachariah to a nearby children's hospital where he was treated for a fractured skull and brain bleeding, which has since been stopped.
She said that after days of recovery, he "can move his arms pretty well," but "gets tired easily." His long road to recovery is expected to involve extensive physical therapy.
According to KSWO, Phillips was subsequently charged with shooting with intent to kill, a felony offense. He has since admitted to the shooting, explaining that someone had allegedly threatened his girlfriend while driving past his home earlier that evening.
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I grew up in a rough neighborhood, but we always looked forward to when my mother would drive my family around to look at Christmas lights. She’d instruct my siblings and I to always keep our eyes forward and to never make eye contact with anyone outside during the drive. I used to call her overly paranoid when I was younger, but the fact is that this shit really does happen.
