A 10-year-old girl was honored by Clark County commissioners on Tuesday for protecting her siblings from bullets at a Nevada Walmart on May 8.
Aaliyah Inghram, 10, was given a medal as Clark County Commissioners designated June 5, 2018, ‘Aaliyah Inghram Day.’
‘Heroism comes in all shapes, sizes and forms,’ Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The sentiment was shared by Commissioner Larry Brown, who added: ‘You’re a superhero.’
Aaliyah Inghram, 10, was given a medal as Clark County Commissioners designated June 5, 2018, ‘Aaliyah Inghram Day’
On May 8, Aaliyah had been in an SUV with her mother who was handing cookies to her and her other two children and nephew after a shopping trip.
When a shootout began, 26-year-old Samantha Tygrit – who is four months pregnant – instructed all the children to get out of her white Chevrolet Tahoe and get to the ground.
As a bullet went through her shoulder, Tygrit threw her daughter, four, to the ground and rushed to unbuckle her 18-month-old son and 15-month-old nephew from their carseats.
On May 8, Aaliyah shielded her 18-month-old brother and 15-month-old cousin from gunfire at a local Walmart
‘I’ve never been so scared in my life,’ she said. ‘To feel like you can’t protect all your kids at once, that was the worst feeling in my life.’
When Tygrit looked, she discovered that Aaliyah had been shielding the children and was hit in the buttocks by the same bullet that pierced through her mom.
‘She didn’t have to do what she did, but she did and it saved her brother,’ Tygrit said.
The girl was shot by a bullet in the buttocks that also hit her mother, 26-year-old Samantha Tygrit (center), in the shoulder
‘Stay calm and do what’s right for you,’ she said for other kids who find themselves in difficult situations
‘I thought it was like a car reacting to something,’ the girl explained to news3lv. ‘But then I saw that I was bleeding, so then I told mom that I got shot.’
The two received treatment at Sunrise Hospital and were released on the same day as the shooting.
The young girl is expected to have surgery in the month to remove the bullet. All the children will also receive trauma counseling.
‘We’ll figure it out,’ Tygrit asserted. ‘They’re really strong and we have a lot of support.’
Aaliyah shared that protecting her brother and cousin were of vital importance to her
Aaliyah shared that protecting her brother and cousin were of vital importance to her.
‘Stay calm and do what’s right for you,’ she said for other kids who find themselves in difficult situations.
Police have detained one of the suspects in connection to the shooting and are looking for the other.