Woman shot twice at Seattle park speaks about saving infant son: 'I was just holding him so tight'



BOTHELL, Wash. -- A 27-year-old woman and her 17-month-old son continue to recover after being shot at a Seattle park on Memorial Day.

The pair and a young girl were hit when police say a man got out of his car and opened fire at Pritchard Island Beach Park. That man has now been charged in the incident.



Marquiesha Phillips was just trying to take her kids to the park.

“I had the kids and I decided let's get out of the house and go have some fun.”

But everything changed in an instant.

“We just heard them again a whole bunch of times—bang bang bang bang bang… When I seen all that blood gushing down my first thing was like, 'Oh snap I got shot.'"

Now the only memories she has of that day are of her and her 17-month-old son being shot.

“I remember saying ‘grab my son, grab my son!’”



She said she wasn't in pain; she didn't even feel it, but she could see it.

“I’m bleeding out-- I’m literally thinking I’m gonna bleed out and die, people usually get shot and they die.”

The other memories lingering, are the scars left behind.

“So I have two shots to the chest, one of them went out my back. So I have a hole in my back and the other one is the one that got stuck in my son.”

Officials say 20-year-old Cedric Jackson drove slowly through the parking lot at the park, as if looking for targets. He then got out of the car with other people and started firing. Police do believe the people involved are in gangs.

“When I heard the gunshots, you know I was just holdin' him tightly. I was just like 'Oh my God they’re shooting,' and I was just holding him so tight.”

Jackson is charged with three counts of first-degree assault with a firearm. 



“I never in a million years would have ever thought I would get shot in a crossfire in just a random day at the park with my kids having fun.”

Memorial Day ended in a way Marquiesha never could have imagined.

“I’m lucky to be here, like I am so lucky to be here. I really thought I was gonna die, I was gonna be gone.”

She lived to tell about it, and says she will continue that mission.

"Maybe if I speak what I have to say since I am a younger adult, maybe, it might get through to somebody. Maybe they will listen, not everybody but somebody.”

The other innocent bystander, a 10-year-old girl who was also hit by gunfire in a backseat of another car, was discharged from Harborview the day after the shooting.

Marquiesha spent 13 days in the hospital.

As for Jackson, he is expected to be in court June 17. His bail was set at $500,000.

If you would like to help Marquiesha, here is a link to her GoFundMe page.