Innocent children injured in gunfire could suffer lifelong emotional scars

Children have been injured or killed recently in Charlotte, Gastonia, Hickory, Shelby and Caldwell County.

A mother in Shelby was inside a home holding her infant when someone fired shots into the home.

One shot hit the child while she was in her mother’s arms.

Eight-month-old Darbie has been hospitalized and is now off a breathing tube.

There is a bandage on her chest from the bullet that struck a lung. Emotional scars will last long after she recovers from her physical wounds.

“It’s still in your brain,” said Dr. Amy Sifford, a licensed clinical mental health supervisor for the Phoenix Counseling Center.

Sifford has helped children who have been shot, and knows about Darbie and the other four young children from our area shot in just the last month.

Gabby Jones, of Gastonia, and Zakylen Harris, of Hickory, both seven years old, were killed by gun violence.

Two-year-old Elijah Summerow was killed by his father in Caldwell County, police said.

Seven-year-old Zionna Grace is recovering after being shot in Charlotte.

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“No, it’s not over once they get out of the hospital,” Sifford said.

She said that children as young as Darbie who experience that kind of trauma could have PTSD.

Sifford said the PTSD they experience is like trauma experienced by soldiers on a battlefield.

The anxiety, aggression and depression are scars that will not heal quickly, she said.

“They will be affected by this event for the rest of their lives,” Sifford said.

Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford said he has talked with other chiefs about shootings involving young victims.

“When you start having kids that are hit, that’s your tipping point,” Ledford said.

He said in most cases, people are settling small disputes with gunfire, and in each of these cases, the shooter has little regard for the most innocent victims.

“Those bullets, when they leave that gun they don’t care where they go,” Ledford said. “And the single press of trigger changes so many lives.”

Police said they will start working on trying to convince people not to resort to gun violence over simple arguments.

Community remembers 7-year-old girl shot and killed in Gastonia

Cox Media Group