Zaevion Dobson: Girls Saved By Football Player, 15, Who Acted As Human Shield During Shooting, Speak Out
Two girls, who were shielded from bullets by their friend Zaevion Dobson when alleged gang members opened fire on them, are speaking for the first time about the incident. The 15-year-old football player allegedly jumped on top of three girls in a bid to shield them from the bullets. As a result of his actions, all three girls were unharmed but Dobson was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The girls say they would have “probably been shot” if it wasn’t for Dobson’s efforts to protect them.
The Daily Mail reports that 15-year-old Zaevion Dobson was on a porch with his brother and some friends when gang members opened fire in front of the Tennessee home. Dobson, a dedicated football player at Fulton High School, immediately jumped on top of the three girls that were standing on the porch with him and shielded them from the barrage of bullets. All three girls were unharmed in the shooting and say that they would have “probably been shot” had their friend not protected them. The girls say that they had made their way back inside before the shooting was over and yelled to Dobson that he could “get up now.” However, the teen did not move. He had been shot in the head by a bullet and died from his wounds.
One of the girls admits that initially she didn’t think the shooting could be real and thought that Dobson would get up. She says that when Dobson didn’t move she went upstairs and come back down hoping it wasn’t real.
“By the time it was over, we had went inside. I pulled on him and said ‘You can get up now’ but he didn’t get up. So I just went upstairs, and by the time I came back to make sure everything was real, (I saw) he was shot in the head.”
All I can do is sit in this bed where he laid his head every night man ? life not gonna be the same without u ? @_zdobbs24 come back bruh
— Zack Dobson (@stn__zack) December 18, 2015
Zack Dobson, Zaevion’s 23-year-old brother who was on the porch with him at the time of the shooting, recalled the moment he realized his brother was dead.
“I was like ‘I love you, wake up, I need you, wake up.'”
Zack says that his brother lived and breathed football and that his life was consumed by it. He notes that Zaevion would go to school, come home and do homework and watch football documentaries on players or games on TV. Zack says if he wasn’t playing football he was watching it.
“That’s what he did. He came from school, did his homework, watched film, watched documentaries of it, players. That’s what he loved — football.”
We want you to know that Zaevion was an outstanding young man who will always be remembered as a hero. pic.twitter.com/h7qlV1D9zO — Fulton Football (@FultonFootball) December 18, 2015
In honor of his late brother and his heroic final efforts, Zack says he is going to Oregon and attending the college that Zaevion had one day hoped to attend. Meanwhile, friends and members of the Fulton High School community are taking to social media to honor the football player taken too soon. An outpouring of support has been shown with the school noting that grief counselors were on site to help students deal with the grief of losing a friend.
Zae had a heart size of Texas?? knew that ever since I met him in lonsdale. A hero to East Tennessee.. https://t.co/DdCWxC5OTc
— Pastor Booke (@tht_mula_bookie) December 18, 2015
The football team is also grieving a great loss and held a team meeting on Friday morning to offer each other support and a time to grieve together for the loss of one of their own.
[Image via Twitter]
