Family Praying For Recovery Of 11-Year-Old Ny-Andra Dyer, Shot In The Face At West Pullman Gas Station; 'I Just Need A Miracle'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The prognosis is tough for Ny-Andra Dyer, the 11-year-old girl caught in the crossfire of a shootout while sitting in a car at a West Pullman gas station on Monday.
Her mother said a bullet hit Ny-Andra's spinal cord, and is too close to an artery to be removed, and her condition is not improving. The family is also praying that swelling in her brain will go down.
"I'm just asking everybody could you please keep us in your prayers, so my baby could just overcome? I just need a miracle. I'm so confused. I keep praying, but I'm seein' how it's tearing my kids apart," Ny-Andra's mother said.
Ny-Andra is a 6th-grader who loves to draw, dance, and do makeup. She was on her way home to finish her homework, sitting in the car with her family at the gas station in the 100 block of West 127th Street on Monday night when three men started shooting. She was shot in the face.
Police said the 11-year-old was not the intended target of the shooting. She was wounded in a shooting involving three men.
Police said a 19-year-old man was leaving the gas station store when two men went up to him.
As he tried to go back into the store, one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the teen, twice in his pelvic area and once in his left knee. Sources said the teen then returned fire, with an assault weapon-style rifle.
Police recovered a handgun near the scene, along with 16 shell casings.
After he was shot, sources said the teen got back into his vehicle and drove to his house, where he called for an ambulance.
Ny-Andra was taken to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital with serious brain injuries.
Her mom said if the swelling in her brain doesn't subside in the next 72 hours, her family has been told they will have to make funeral arrangements.
"They messed her up," Ny-Andra's mother said. "She will never be the same."
Police are looking for the three men responsible for shooting Ny-Andra, as her mother begs anyone with information to come forward.
"All I'm looking for is a miracle," the girl's mother said through tears. "I just need a miracle from God. I'm just going to stay prayed up."
A $30,000 reward is being offered to whoever leads police to an arrest and conviction. Tips can remain anonymous. There's a 24-hour National Call Center number: 1-800-883-5587 (1-800-U-TELL-US).
