She isn’t an officer. She wasn’t in uniform. But Shetamia Taylor, a mother of four boys, was still wounded during the Dallas sniper attack.
Taylor and her family were at a protest Thursday evening to show their support for the two African-American men fatally shot by police this week, her sister Theresa Williams told CNN affiliate KTVT.
The family was peacefully protesting along with hundreds of other people. They were just about to leave the rally when the night took a devastating turn, as a sniper started shooting.
Mayhem ensued as people scattered in every direction, seeking shelter from the spray of bullets. Taylor and her boys started running.
“They came so fast,” Williams said of the bullets.
Taylor was shot in her leg and immediately jumped on top of her 15-year-old son, trying to protect him from the bullets.
“She pushed him in between two cars and the curb,” Williams said. Taylor covered her son with her body for five minutes as the shooting continued. When she finally looked up her three other boys were gone.
They had scattered in opposite directions seeking safety, Williams explained.
“She laid there. She said it was about five minutes before cops even got to her,” Williams said. They were able to pull her from the area while shots were ringing out into the downtown area.
Taylor was rushed to the hospital with one of her sons.
But all she could think about was her other three boys,” Williams said.
Two of her sons were hiding in a hotel building while the other sought refuge at a nearby house.
The bullet shattered her tibia bone. Taylor was taken into surgery for her leg, Williams explained.
By the time the shooting ended, 12 officers had been shot. Five of them were killed.
Investigators later said the suspect told police he was upset about recent police shootings and that he wanted to kill white people — especially white police officers.
As Taylor laid in the hospital bed with news of the Dallas shooting playing in her room, she was thinking about the other families who lost loved ones during the shooting, Williams said.
“We’re watching the news in the hospital room and all she could say is, ‘Lord, be with those families and those police officers,” Williams said.
