Local

Only on 9: ‘She’s fighting hard,’ says mother of 8-year-old shot while sleeping

CHARLOTTE — The mother of an 8-year-old girl spoke to Channel 9 after her daughter was shot inside their northwest Charlotte home.

Annie Campbell said her daughter Olivia is a fighter, but she has a long road ahead in the hospital.

It’s been 40 hours since someone fired shots into their home, hitting the little girl as she slept. Campbell told Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz she’s heartbroken over what Olivia is now battling through, and she’s asking everyone to pray for her daughter.

Olivia’s family is used to her outgoing personality and her love for TikTok dances.

“My TikTok baby. She’s a pretty girl,” Campbell said. “She’s full of life, joy, love. She’s my baby.”

But the 8-year-old is in the hospital now waiting for swelling in her brain to go down before she undergoes surgery in another seven to 14 days.

“They broke my baby’s skull. They broke her skull,” Campbell said. “So they got to go in and fix that so she can be back better.”

Campbell’s anguish over her daughter’s situation is clear.

“She’s fighting. She’s fighting hard,” she said. “She’s trying to wake up, I know she is. She can hear me.”

Campbell is trying to stay strong for Olivia’s siblings, too, who ask where she is.

“She’s going to come up out of this, I know she is, ‘cause God’s not through with us,” she said. “God’s not through with my baby and he’s going to give her a fair chance at this thing called life.”

More than anything, she’s asking for everyone’s support.

“I ask everyone to pray for my baby and I don’t think that’s too much to ask for,” Campbell said.

Her mother said Olivia cannot move her left side, but can lift her right arm and leg. She can’t talk but has tried to pull out some of her tubes. Her mother said that’s her fighting spirit.

Campbell has strong words for whoever shot Olivia.

“Y’all hurt somebody innocent and God don’t like ugly -- that’s what I’m going say,” she said.

Olivia is the second child hurt recently when someone fired shots into a northwest Charlotte home. Just one month ago and five miles away on Flagler Lane, a 13-year-old boy was shot in the leg. Police said the boy, his two siblings, and their mother were all inside when the shooting happened. The boy was expected to be OK.

CMPD gave an update that contextualizes how often these types of crimes are happening. They said shootings into occupied homes are actually down 2% compared to this time last year. They’ve responded to 257 of these calls so far this year, compared to 263 last year.

(PREVIOUS: ‘We all started crying’: Young girl seriously hurt after shooting into northwest Charlotte home)

Hunter Sáenz

Hunter Sáenz, wsoctv.com

Hunter is a reporter for Channel 9.