A seven year-old girl wounded in a drive-by shooting last week in Maine has a bullet stuck in her spine and remains in intensive care but is expected to live.
On Friday, Emahleeah Frost was in her bedroom eating a snack when she became the victim of a drive-by shooting in Waterville on the corner of Gold and Summer streets.
Her parents, Davina Petchonka and Chuck Frost Jr., say she had just come home from school and was in the bedroom with her sister when shots were fired at their apartment building from a vehicle outside.
One bullet pierced the building’s wall, hitting Emahleeah on the right side of her chest and lodging itself in one of her vertebrae.
“My immediate reaction was to go towards the room,” said Petchonka. “I saw her standing there ... I lifted her shirt and I saw the wound ... I picked her up and carried her to the kitchen floor, put the towel to put pressure on her.”
Emmahleah was immediately taken to an area hospital and then flown to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where a hospital spokeswoman says she remains in fair condition Monday.
Petchonka tells NECN/NBC10 Boston that her daughter is expected to make a full recovery and the bullet will not cause any permanent damage.
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Instead, Emahleeah’s parents say doctors have been working on getting the girl’s lungs stable and, while she is in some pain, she is talking and in generally good spirits.
Her biggest concern is why the shooting happened in the first place.
Police are still trying to answer that question.
Investigators from Maine State Police and the Waterville Police Department were gathering evidence at the shooting scene through the weekend.
As of Monday, the agencies had not named any suspects.
“I would implore anyone in the community who has any information to please share that,” Waterville Deputy Chief William Bonney said.
“If you have information, please come forward,” Petchonka said.
