Seven-year-old shot six times in face trying to protect her mother

Posted May 2, 2008 by Citizen Journalist

Cynthia T. [Picasso] in Crime | 27 comments | 300 views

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Calvin Tillie who was on parole has been accused of shooting seven-year-old Alexis Goggins six times at point-blank in the face. The little girl threw herself between the gun and her mother. She has lost her right eye and has had six surgeries.

Detroit -- A judge in Detroit has ruled that there is enough evidence to bind Calvin Tillie over for trial in Wayne Circuit Court for the shooting that took place Dec. 2, 2007. May 8 has been set for his next court date.

Alexis's mother, Seliethia Parker, called her friend, Alisha Ford, to come and pick them up because her furnace was not working. According to Ford's testimony at the preliminary examination Tillie just came out of the shadows near the home and took them all at gunpoint.

According to detnews.com Ford stated,

"He showed up at my car with a gun in his hand. I said, 'You're not going with me,' "He pointed the gun at me and told me he needed to go to Six Mile."

Ford pretended that she needed gasoline and stopped at a gas station and placed a call to 911 for help and tried to stall for time. As she looked out to her car she saw the flash of gunshots inside her car.

According to Parker's testimony when Tillie fired a shot her daughter threw herself from the backseat and put herself between them. Parker wrestled with him for the gun as he continued shooting.

Parker said,

"I was fighting, I was swinging and I was screaming."

When the shooting stopped Parker had been shot in the arm and a bullet grazed the side of her face. Little Alexis was curled up on the floor under the steering wheel. She was bleeding from her eye, temple, chin, cheek and both arms and crying for her mother.

Detroit police officers who had arrived on the scene flagged down a Detroit Fire Department ambulance that was taking an unidentified pregnant woman to the hospital. When the woman took one look at Alexis she pulled herself out of the ambulance and laid down on the seat of one of the police cars even though the baby's head was crowning.

Detroit Police Sgt. Nathan Duda said

"She told them that the little girl needs it a lot more than (she did). That's a hero in my mind, but we never got her name in all the confusion."

Both mom and daughter were covered in blood and were rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital. Alexis spent two months in the hospital and lost her eye. She is still undergoing therapy.

Judge Donna Robinson Milhouse has ordered Tillie to stand trial in Wayne Circuit Court. The charges against him include first-degree child abuse, assault with intent to murder, hostage-taking, assault with a dangerous weapon, and being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Tille could go to prison for life if convicted as he is also charged as a four-time felony offender.

A photo of Alexis and her mother can be seen here.

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Seven-year-old shot six times in face trying to protect her mother

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