NORFOLK, Va. – Six-year-old Zy’Asia is slowly regaining strength, taking her first steps from her hospital bed on the Fourth of July after her mother, Tamika Moses, said she was shot in the stomach Friday afternoon.
She’s been at her daughter’s bedside at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters ever since.
“I’ve been here every day, every night,” said Moses. “I’m just trying to be there for her and don’t show her that I’m sad. The way I look is going to make her sad.”
Zy’Asia was one of four children shot Friday on Madison Avenue in Norfolk. Police said three teens, one 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds, were also wounded by gunfire after an argument broke out.
Neighbors say they heard at least seven gunshots.
Moses said Zy’Asia was at home with her two older sisters and oldest cousin at the time of the shooting.
“I couldn't believe it,” she said. “I couldn't believe it at all because I had just left the house.”
An empty lot on Madison Avenue is where neighbors said the teens gathered just before shots rang out.
One of the bullets entered Moses’ home across the street, hitting Zy’Asia. Her mother said that bullet was inches away from her heart.
“A little inches up would have been her heart and I wouldn’t have my child here today,” Moses said. “I’m just thankful; very thankful. I’m thankful for all the prayers everybody is sending out. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for the doctors and nurses at CHKD. They’re doing a wonderful job. I appreciate everything they’re doing for her.”
Bullet holes can be seen in the front of Moses’ house. She believes five or six gunshots tore through her home and said Zy’Asia was downstairs looking out the window when she was shot. She was immediately taken into surgery with serious injuries.
Sedetra Ward lives next door to the family and said in the nine years she’s lived on the street, a shooting has never happened this close to home.
“It’s terrible because all this violence just ain’t with it,” Ward said. “You’re not safe nowhere, but only thing I can tell everybody - keep your prayers up.”
Policearrested a 15-year-old boy early Saturday morning in connection with the shooting.
Moses, in the meantime, is hoping to bring little Zy’Asia home next week to a community free from violent crime.
She has a message for the suspect and anyone else thinking about picking up a gun to solve problems.
“There’s always a reaction to everybody’s actions,” said Moses. “It’s not good, and I could have lost my baby. Put the guns down; it’s not that serious.”
The 15-year-old boy is being held in the Norfolk Detention Center. Detectives have charged him with the following: malicious wounding, attempted malicious wounding, shooting into an occupied building, possession of a firearm by a juvenile and two counts of use of a firearm.
