By Joe Johnson
An Athens girl who was shot in the stomach last week continued Sunday to fight for her life at a children's hospital in Atlanta.
According to LaTonda Williford, her 15-year-old daughter Antijah Williford, who police said was shot in the stomach Wednesday at Hallmark Estates off of Sprig Valley Road, on Sunday remained in critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
“We thought we had progress, but then she crashed and had to set her back to where she was,” LaTonda said. “She can’t say anything because she is on a ventilator.
According to LaTonda, the bullet did not damage a lung, but her daughter was on the ventilator "because all of the damage she suffered, it caused difficulties with her breathing at 100% without support.”
LaTonda said the Antijah "only expresses how she feels and how she wants things to make her comfortable,” the woman said, “She asks for her older sister and tells me she loves me repeatedly.”
LaTonda called Antijah “a ball of joy and fun. She is what I call my nurturing child, she loves with her whole heart and she cares not only for her siblings but other children as well.
Antijah “is very outgoing and never meets a stranger,” her mother said. “She’s very athletic and loves basketball and volleyball.”
The girl is a freshman at Cedar Shoals High School, where she was on the girls' basketball team until she was sidelined by injury, LaTonda said,
LaTonda said that Antijah has five brothers and four sisters, "who she loves dearly,"
She said that her younger siblings are worried and the older ones are angry this happened to her, and sad. as well as myself, her bioilogical father and stepdad."
Athens-Clarke County police said they have identified a teenaged boy as possibly the person who shot Antijah, a boy with whom Antijah was familiar.
Police did not know of any motives for the shooting at the trailer park, where Antijah did not live, but had relatives and acquaintances who did.
“At this time no arrests or charges have been made,” Lt, Shaun Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer, said on Sunday.
The shooting investigation remains ongoing, and police asked for anyone with information related to the incident to contact Detective Scott Black at 762-400-7058 or scott.black@accgov.com.