‘Because I’m tough’: 9-year-old girl recovering after being hit in leg by stray bullet

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 9-year-old girl who was shot in west Charlotte on Dec. 16. is staying strong as she recovers at home.

The shooting happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Davenport Street near Interstate 85 and Freedom Drive.

“I’m OK, but my leg hurts,” the victim, Miracle Bennett, told Channel 9 a week after the shooting.

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Miracle was inside her her grandmother’s house when gunfire erupted outside of the home. Officers said four bullets were shot into the house, one of them striking the 9-year-old in her leg.

“I’m still to this day, I can’t believe my baby got shot,” said Quameka Bennett, Miracle’s mother. “She’s only nine. That’s not normal.”

Miracle was taken to the hospital, was listed in serious condition and was released.

Her mother didn’t know about the shooting that afternoon and when she pulled up to the crime scene, she panicked.

“I was just shocked,” Bennett said. “I was so out of it. I couldn’t even get it together.”

Miracle calmed her mother down when they got to the hospital.

“Then she was crying, and I told her don’t cry,” Miracle said.

Miracle said thought she was going to die but wasn’t afraid.

“Because I’m tough,” the girl told Channel 9 crime reporter Glenn Counts.

Doctors removed the bullet from Miracle’s leg and she is now on crutches. Miracle is expected to make a full recovery.

“I don’t know if I’m traumatized or not, honestly, because I think about it all the time,” her mother said. “Like, I can’t believe my baby really, like, got shot. That’s not normal.”

“The outcome of this action is a 9-year-old was struck by gunfire,” CMPD Maj. Ryan Butler said the day of the shooting. “So certainly, if you live in Charlotte, work in Charlotte, drive through Charlotte, that’s seeing this on your programs this evening should be greatly concerned.”

After investigating, officers identified three suspects in the shooting. They later found one of the suspect’s vehicle on Beatties Ford Road and tried to pull them over but they refused, leading to a chase with police. The chase ended on Patton Avenue and the three suspects were arrested.

Officers charged Anthony Smith, 21, Tariq Miller, 23, and Shiodon Shipp, 23, with four counts of discharging a firearm into occupied property, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and felony conspiracy. Miller and Shipp were also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

“Even though you have animosity against someone else, doesn’t mean you can go to someone else’s home and shoot an act of violence on someone else,” Smith said. “That is devastating.”

Police said five other people were inside the home at the time of the shooting. Their ages range from 6 to 84.

People who live nearby said they were distraught to learn a child was shot, and Smith said he hoped she will be OK.

“That is an innocent body,” he said. “She got a life to live. She has a purpose.”

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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