Family of eight-year-old hit by stray bullet in Navasota search for answers to shooting
NAVASOTA, Texas (KBTX) – An eight-year-old who was hit by a stray bullet Friday morning in Navasota shared her story with KBTX Monday.
Kyliee Hightower was in her room early Friday morning when the bullet pierced the window, striking her arm before hitting the wall.
“I didn’t hear the first gunshots. I just hear running and she got to my room and she said, ‘Gigi, I think I’ve been shot,’’’ her grandmother Michele Gardner said.
Michele said the experience was ‘terrifying,’ not just for her and Kyliee, but the whole family.
”They could have took an innocent child’s life and it’s getting too common. Now that kids are getting caught in crossfires and being shot? I mean, thank God she didn’t perish from this,” she said.
Kyliee was treated at a hospital in Bryan, but her healing process is just beginning.
“Like, if I hear a boom, I would be scared, my heart would be thumping real fast. So I try to just be calm like when I get around here, sometimes I’ll be scared to go in my room,” Kyliee said.
According to Michele, this isn’t the first time she’s called the police over gunshots near her home. The most recent call she made was around three weeks ago.
Michele hopes someone will take action to prevent anyone else from going through what Kyliee did.
“Next time, somebody’s life might be taken. I really just think that they need to just go at it full force, and, you know, take this very very seriously,” she said.
For now, she’s happy to have Kyliee on the road to recovery.
“I just know she came to me and said she was shot and she looked up at me and she said, ‘Gigi, I’m gonna be okay,’” Michele added.
The family started a GoFundMe to help the cost of medical bills, linked below.
The City of Navasota did not reply Monday when asked for information, they asked in a press release for people with information to come forward. Those who may have information can call Navasota police at (936) 825-6410 or the Grimes County Crime Stoppers at (936) 873-2000.
