KANSAS CITY, Kan. — He had surgery and spent more than a week in the hospital after being shot. But Wednesday, a 4-year-old boy is back home.
Markel Hall Jr. was playing outside of his home on 17th St. and Stewart Ave. during a family barbeque on Aug. 11, when Kansas City, Kansas police said a single stray bullet from a rolling gun fight on nearby Parallel Parkway, struck a family friend holding Markel in the hand, and then hit Markel in the stomach.
“I don’t know what happened. It was crazy. I was in the house in the shower and I just heard everyone screaming,” Gerri Eatman, Markel’s mother, said.
Markel was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery, while Eatman was left to pray her son would live.
“I don’t know, I guess I blacked out for a while. I don’t know what was going on,” she said.
Eatman would spend the next week at the hospital with her son while he recovered.
“They had to fix his stomach because the bullet put a hole in his stomach, his liver and then his small intestine. So they had to take out two feet of his small intestine,” Eatman said.
Eatman said Markel made a remarkable recovery. He was sitting up and talking the next day after surgery and walking within a few days. She said doctors told them he was likely saved because the bullet hit the family friend’s hand first, slowing it down. Eatman said her son was finally released on Aug. 22.
Police towed a car away that night they said they think was involved. They also released another picture of a second suspect car later. Then, police released this picture of a woman they are calling a “person of interest.” But still, police say no one is in custody.
“They’ll find them in time,” Eatman said.
Until then, Eatman is just happy to have her son back, healthy. She also said despite the scary ordeal, she and her family will continue to hang out in front of their home.
Eatman said her son will go back to the hospital for a check-up in two weeks.
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