She is alive, despite being shot four times. She’s healing, though she’s still in a wheelchair and she has a bullet in her liver. She says God, her family, the community and her own grit all played a role in her survival.
Tiana Carruthers described what the last few months have been like on Thursday at Borgess Hospital, in her first media appearance since the February 20 mass shooting in which six people died. Battle Creek 14-year-old Abigail Kopf also survived and is recovering from critical injuries.
In 20 minutes or so, 25-year-old Carruthers said she was amazed at the amount of support she’s received from the community, saying she hasn’t even made it through all the cards she’s received yet.
Carruthers said the shooting has changed her life completely.
“You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know what to do,” she says. “I feel like I’m a child at zero months right now.”
She says it's been especially hard not to be able to care for her daughter as she recovers. And she cried as she said that “someone” has been with her “through this whole thing,” protecting her, and when she described her will to survive.
“I just told myself, ‘I’m going to make it home, I’m going to make it home, I’m going to get home, I’m going to do it,” she said, sobbing.
45-year-old Jason Brian Dalton of Cooper Township is accused of carrying out the shootings. He’s currently undergoing a competency exam to determine whether he would be fit to stand trial.
Carruthers said that she does not hate the man who shot her, though she said that lack of hate was curious even to herself. She later added that she was trying to forgive the shooter.
She’s recovering at home now, and says that’s a great relief after a long stay in the hospital.
At the end of her remarks, she sang.
“Thank you, you are amazing. And Lord, Lord, I just want to say thank you.”
