Friend recalls terrifying aftermath of Seattle shooting that injured woman, infant



SEATTLE -- There is nothing normal about what happened at Pritchard Island Beach Park on Memorial Day, but it lingers, like the last bit of police tape wrapped around the tree at the entrance.

“You just happened to be sitting there with your child and somehow two bullets find their way to you,” says Elandra Davis.

Davis says her family gathered here Monday to BBQ, one of many in honor of the holiday.

“And then, the next thing you hear, you hear five pops,” says Javen Pitt, Elandra’s friend.

Pitt immediately checked on the children.

“Next thing you know, you hear a semiautomatic go off and that’s when you realize that is not fireworks,” says Pitt.

Seattle Police say that according to witnesses, two groups of people began firing upon one another in the middle of the parking lot. The bullets struck Elandra’s friend, a 27-year-old woman, and her 10-month-old baby, as they sat in the back seat of a car.

“They came running and they’re like the baby, the baby and the baby is covered in blood. At first we couldn’t identify the baby because there was so much blood and everybody said who’s baby is it, who’s baby is it?” says Davis.

The child’s mother, still in the backseat, shot and bleeding.

“She just had this long moan, that was it,” says Pitt.

Fortunately, they both survived. But Elandra and Javen say we need to start talking to each other.

“I found myself having a conversation with my niece and, at 4 years old, she’s very much aware of what just happened. As we were getting ready to leave, looking for her, she’s like don’t worry I’m not shot. And that broke my heart,” says Davis.

She says we all need to understand not only what happened, but how it happened.

“When the sun comes out, the guns come out,” says Davis.

And why.

“I did four years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a rage type case,” says Pitt.

He says we know how it ends, but where does it begin?

“When do we start dealing with the heart issue of people? If they do get caught the system may throw them away and then they get out and become worse and they may go from accidentally hitting somebody to purposely killing somebody. When does that conversation happen?,” asks Pitt.

There is nothing normal about what happened at the park on Memorial Day.

“But it’s sad when it becomes the norm. Whatever the dispute was, whatever the situation was, whatever resulted to guns being the answer; it’s never the appropriate answer. And it affects an entire community because what we are left with now is that fear,” says Davis.

Elandra says the conversation begins at home with our kids, and it begins young-- gun safety, violence, the difference between right and wrong. She says both her friend and the 10-month-old baby are doing well as of Wednesday night.

Seattle Police also say a third victim, a 10-year-old girl, was struck while she was riding in a car away from the park. Anyone with information is asked to call Seattle Police.