Shooting Victim’s Mother: “Pay Attention”
The mother of a recent victim of gun violence in Atlanta found part of her job hitting too close to home today.Broadcast Version
Melinda Pruitt works as a division manager at the Fulton County Office of Children and Youth. She stood with Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves and other county leaders Wednesday as they denounced this week’s shootings near Therrell High School and other recent gun violence in metro Atlanta.
Department heads ran down a list of programs available to young people this summer in hopes of keeping them occupied once school gets out.
But when it came time for Pruitt to speak at the podium, she made a brief but impassioned plea: to pay attention.
Pruitt later told WABE, “One of the things that someone said to me about the gentlemen who shot my son was, ‘He was a nice guy.’ And I believe that. He was a nice guy, and something went wrong. But nice people, who you wouldn’t expect it from, have these trigger moments. And nobody can see it. So we’ve got to be able to figure out, we’ve got to start paying attention.”
Pruitt’s son is Levon Hailey. He and Fulton Assistant District Attorney April McConnell were shot several times last month as they sat in a parked car. McConnell’s estranged husband, the shooter, later killed himself. Pruitt says her son has a long road ahead, and he is still in the hospital. But she says he expected to make a full recovery.
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