Alexis Goggins

Alexis Goggins (http://www.ramblingbeachcat.com/2012/07/freaky-factual-tale-friday-alexis.html (ramblingbeachcat.com))

You don't have to be an adult to be a hero or save lives. You don't even have to be over the age of ten, as proved heroic Alexis Goggins, only seven years old when she saved her mother's life.

On a chilling December evening in 2007 in Detroit, Michigan, Alexis and her mother Selietha Parker called a friend to come pick them up so they could stay at her place, due to a broken heater. Their friend, Aiesha Ford, agreed and went to pick them up. Upon arrival, she noticed a man standing on the porch, and recognized him as Parker's ex boyfriend, Calvin Tillie. He was armed with a blue steel 9mm semi automatic. Tillie entered the car with the two women and young girl and told Ford to drive to Six Mile Road.

"He looked like he was enraged and didn't care what he did. I knew if we went to Six Mile, he would kill us," Ford said. She managed to convince the gunman she needed gas, and they stopped at a Fast Gas. Tillie handed her $10, and told her to bring back the change. He waited in the car with Alexis and her mother. As Ford got out and walked into the station to pay, she dialled 911 from her cell phone. Despite being told that a man was holding two women and a young child hostage at gunpoint, the operator said that she didn't have a unit to send to help them. Ford went back into the car for more money, stalling for time, saying she needed even more gas. She went back into the station to pay a second time. Tillie, declaring that she was taking too long, opened fire on Parker. He shot her in the side of the head and again in the arm as she lunged for the gun. Before he could fire again, Alexis jumped from the back seat, screaming at Tillie not to shoot her mom, and then shielded her with her own body. Without hesitating, Tillie pumped 6 more shots into the body of the little girl. The gas station attendant called the police when he and Ford heard shots ringing from the car. The police were there within minutes.

Alexis was shot 6 times in the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm. She had multiple major surgeries, as well as had a glass eye put in, due to losing her left one to a bullet. She had a massive stroke when she was younger, and walked with a limp even before the shooting. She is also learning disabled, and has epilepsy. She is currently in 7th grade.

Despite everything that life threw at her, this incredibly brave little girl kept fighting. She is currently doing well in school, and despite having a lot of doctor's appointments, is living life like a normal kid. She is the definition of a heroic, and a loving, selfless person. This little girl, at age 7, was able to put the life of another in front her own. She is a hero, and someone we should all look up to.