Civilian Shot in Dallas Protected Son From Bullets

Shetamia Taylor was wounded in right leg after throwing her body on top of 15-year-old son
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 8, 2016 7:57 AM CDT
Civilian Shot in Dallas Protected Son From Bullets
Sherie Williams, left, and Theresa Williams, center, speak to the media as they leave Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas on Friday. Theresa Williams said her sister, Shetamia Taylor, was shot in one of her legs.   (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Five police officers are dead and at least seven were injured after a shooting in Dallas Thursday night during a rally against police brutality, but at least one civilian was also injured during the attack—and she was hurt while trying to protect one of her children, her sister tells the AP. Theresa Williams says her sister, 37-year-old Shetamia Taylor, had taken her four sons, ages 12 to 17, to the protest in downtown Dallas when gunfire erupted and Taylor's motherly instincts kicked in.

As three of her sons ran in different directions, Taylor "jumped on top to cover [the 15-year-old] on the ground as she pushed him in between two cars [on] the curb," Williams tells ABC affiliate WFAA. "All she could think about was her other three boys, where are they at." Taylor, who kept her son sheltered under her body for about five minutes until the cops came to their rescue, suffered a gunshot wound to her right calf and is expected to make a full recovery after surgery Friday morning. "She's not so much worried about the gunshot wound she has on her leg," Williams says. "All she can do is say, 'Lord, be with those families of those police officers.' And that's what she kept repeating." (More Dallas police shooting stories.)

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