BALTIMORE — Right now, a 10-year-old girl is in the ICU recovering from a bullet that hit her on the chest from about four blocks away.
She was caught in the middle of a gunfight that erupted on Saturday in West Baltimore.
10-year-old Kaelin was going to grab some snacks from the corner store when she felt the bullet hit her.
Bullets travel far and too often in West Baltimore.
Now she and her mother are sitting at the ICU hoping she heals and knowing their lives have changed forever.
“She had no idea that when she walked out of the store that a bullet was coming towards her,” her mother Jasmine Ramsey said.
Kaelin has started down the long road to recovery.
As I talk with her mother she just had tubes removed.
“Put the guns down, the silly beefs like Mayor Scott said, it’s unnecessary,” Ramsey said. “She was an innocent bystander but she was no where near the situation.”
Jasmine has seen an outpouring of love from the community and created a GoFundMe to help with her medical expenses.
The family is looking forward to getting back to doing the things she enjoys.
“She draws, she loves to draw. When the weather is warm she loves to swim. She loves to hang with her cousins.”
Police say they first saw Kaelin on Avalon Avenue and two other adult men who had been shot in the same area.
“She’s scared, she just wants to know why did it happen to her?” Ramsey said. “She hears people saying the bullet wasn’t meant for her but she says the bullet shouldn’t have been meant for anyone.”
The scars will show the physical impact but the emotional trauma that they now have to live with doesn’t go away.
“I hope that it doesn’t affect her but I haven’t talked to her so see really really how she feels about being close to the area that it happened,” Ramsey said. “She does have nightmares, She has nightmares she has had nightmares since she’s been in here.”
Police are asking anyone with information to Western District Shooting detectives, at 410-396-2477.
If you want to remain anonymous you can utilize the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line, at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
You can also submit an anonymous online text-tip to Metro Crime Stoppers.
