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Mother Shot While Shielding Her Sons From Bullets During Dallas Shooting

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 00:30 PST, Jul 8, 2016

Shetamia Taylor, 37, and her four sons were just about to leave the anti-violence protest in downtown Dallas when snipers suddenly open fired at the peaceful gathering, killing five police officers and injuring six others, ABC News reports.

Taylor, a medical worker from Garland, threw herself in front of her children as gunfire erupted around them. In an attempt to get her sons away, a bullet hit her in the leg, leaving one of her sons “covered in blood.”

Speaking to Fox 4 News, Shetamia’s sister Theresa Williams related how Shetamia Taylor used herself as a human shield to save her sons from the gunfire.

“As the rally was ending and they turned to leave, they were one of the first crowds to leave, they heard the first gunshot. After that first gunshot she heard the second gunshot and after that it was just a lot of gunshots. She said they just came so fast and they wouldn’t stop.”

Williams said that two of Taylor’s sons were separated from their mother amid the chaos that ensued, leaving her with her 15-year-old son. The mother of four covered him on the ground and pushed him between two cars and the curb, she said.

“They all began to run, scatter and she said as she started to run she caught a bullet in the back of her right leg. She immediately jumped on top of one of her boys, the 15-year-old, she jumped on top to cover him on the ground as she pushed him in between two cars and the curb. Her other three boys scattered and ran in opposite directions. So she lost three of her boys, didn’t know where they were.”

Theresa said that about five minutes went by before police officers were able to find them and pull them out of the area due to all the confusion and disorder. When they finally got to the hospital, Taylor’s 15-year-old son was covered in his mom’s blood. He was so scared and distraught that he ran up to his mother to hug her around the neck, said Theresa. Shetamia is currently recovering in the hospital after undergoing surgery.

Her two other sons, Kavion and Jamar, were found alive and well behind a police barricade at a Hyatt hotel in the city.

Another sister, Sherie Williams, said that Shetamia took her sons to the #BlackLivesMatter protest rally to teach them about peaceful protests.

“A peaceful rally to show them it’s okay to stand up for who you are and what you believe in and just a simple message, violence doesn’t get you anywhere. Come together, be peaceful, communicate with one another,” she said.

Unfortunately for Shetamia and her sons, the sniper shootings in Dallas gave them a rude awakening: that while it’s true that violence doesn’t get you anywhere, it doesn’t change the fact that peaceful protests can potentially make you a target for violence.

As recently reported by CNNInternational, three alleged suspects are now being held under custody by the Dallas police. A fourth suspect had reportedly shot himself dead after a 45-minute standoff. One of the suspects claimed that bombs were planted all over downtown Dallas.

The Associated Press reports that no explosives have been found following multiple sweeps downtown.

The shooting started at around 20:45 local time on Thursday as protesters marched through downtown Dallas.

The #BlackLivesMatter protest in Dallas was held on Thursday night in response to the recent killings of two black men — Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana — who were fatally gunned down by police officers during an altercation.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that the shootings were meticulously planned, with the suspects using rifles to open fire as the protest rally was about to end.

Two snipers reportedly fired from “an elevated position,” riddling two police officers in the back with bullets.

[Image via Shetamia Taylor/Facebook]

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