ATHENS, Ga. — UPDATE: Police have arrested a 32-year-old in the shooting at this time. Read more here.
A dance practice for a group of children turned into a nightmare on Wednesday evening in Athens. Gunshots erupted in the parking lot sending a stray bullet through the glass front, hitting 5-year-old Ne'vaeh Brown in the eye and a 14-year-old in the arm.
Brittanie Wright is the mother of Ne'vaeh and also happens to be one of her dance coaches. She said there was no parking outside the space where the group was renting for practices.
"When we got there, there were a lot of cars in the parking lot. There was not parking near the venue where the kids were practicing. So, I dropped the kids off and parked a little bit away from the space," she said.
Wright added she walked over to the practice but didn't feel real comfortable about her car being so far away. A few minutes had passed and by this time, someone left and a spot opened up in front of the building.
She went and grabbed her car and moved it to the open parking space.
"Once I parked and opened the door I heard gunshots, I heard four or five gunshots. So, I got back in my car and I'm waiting...I see people running, I see people getting into cars," Wright explained.
Once she realized the shots stopped, she said she ran towards the building where her twins were inside getting ready for dance.
"I was knocking on the door, no one was in the area because, of course, they all ran to the back of the building. And when I looked down at the window I see a bullet hole. So I'm thinking, I hope no ones hurt. I start screaming. But they're not opening the door because they were scared," Wright explained.
Wright said she eventually got one of the coaches' attention and when they realized it was her, they opened the door.
"That's when she was like 'Ne'vaeh's been hit in the eye. So, instantly went into mother mode and ran to her, I grabbed her and ran out the door," Wright said.
At about the same time she got outside, Wright said police started pulling up.
"The police were like, 'lay her down, lay her down' I'm just screaming and hollering. It was traumatic. To see the injury, the blood, to see everything I didn't know what to do or what to think. I didn't know where the bullet was at, or if it was still in her eye," Wright said.
She said Ne'vaeh was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
Ne'vaeh underwent one surgery on Wednesday night and is expected to have a second surgery on Friday. It's unclear how badly her eye is damaged. Wright said if the bullet was just a couple inches over, it would have hit Ne'vahe's brain. She said the bullet split her eyeball and then grazed the bridge of her nose. Wright said during a light test on Thursday, he daughter was able to see a little bit.
But, Wright said she just doesn't understand it.
"Y'all are shooting with innocent people around in broad daylight. Y'all are outside arguing, you pull a gun out and start shooting at each other. Neither one of ya'll got hit, you just shooting. Ya'll seen a lot of kids pulling up, getting out and going into the building. They had no cares. That's selfish and something needs to be done," Wright explained.
She told 11Alive's Cody Alcorn there were a lot of people outside a barbershop next door, loud music was playing and at some point, an argument broke out that ended in gunfire.
Witnesses told Athens-Clarke County Police Department they saw three black Dodge Chargers drive away from the scene after the shooting.
During the investigation, an officer was able to find security video showing the shootout. He identified two people on the video who were still on scene. Reports stated that police charged the two people, but authorities later clarified that they were released shortly after.
Police do believe more suspects are involved at this time. As of Thursday night, Athens-Clarke County Police haven't released the video.
Authorities have arrested 32-year-old Rasheed Scott in the incident as of Friday.
Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to call the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.