Baby suffers blow to face in Texas highway massacre
A 17-month-old baby was one of the several victim wounded in the shooting rampage in Texas.
Five people were killed and more than 20 injured in a massacre in Texas. The shooter, only identified as a white man in his mid-30s, reportedly opened fire after being stopped by state troopers.
The Los Angeles Times reports a 17-month-old girl was hit by bullet fragments, which knocked out her front teeth and left her with a hole in her bottom lip and tongue.
Haylee Wilkerson, who The LA Times have identified as the infant’s “teacher”, has set up a GoFundMe for the little girl, where she has given updates on the child.
“Please help me by raising money for this sweet sweet baby girl who is so little and doesn’t realise what is happening,” the page says.
“They will have a lot of expenses they are going to have to pay for.”
The description also has what appears to be a message from the little girl’s mother.
The mother said her daughter’s vitals were good and she was being transported to Lubbock, which is about 220km away from Odessa.
The mother said while her daughter was being transported by plane, she was driving.
“Not getting to fly with her is beyond painful,” the mother wrote.
The mother said in addition to the hole in her bottom lip and tongue and her teeth being knocked out – the 17-month-old also has shrapnel in her right chest.
“She is alive,” the mother wrote.
“When others today are not alive. I ask you to continue praying for our hearts as we experience this.”
The GoFundMe has raised more than $145,000 for the little girl.
Officer Steve Rogers confirmed that there were 21 civilian victims in the mass shooting on Saturday and that five people were confirmed dead.
Initially, police believed there was more than one shooter, however Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke later said there was only one.
The terrifying chain of events began when Texas state troopers tried pulling over a gold car mid-Saturday afternoon on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said.
Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver “pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots” toward the patrol car stopping him.
The gunshots struck one of two troopers inside the patrol car, Cesinger said, after which the gunman fled “and continued shooting innocent people”, including two police officers.
The massacre comes just four weeks after the El Paso shooting where 22 people were killed.
The West Texas shooting on Saturday brings the number of mass killings in the US so far this year to 25, matching the number in all of 2018.
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