SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Caught in the middle of something unpredictable and shocking, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter who was shot are thankful to be alive.
"She keep saying I done got shot! I done got shot! It's the worst day of my life. They shot me," Aaliyah Adams, a mother, said at the hospital. "She felt like the police was supposed to tell her sorry."
Skylar, who is 5-year-old was just hours removed from a terrifying situation where she was shot while officers were trying to arrest a suspect. She's too young to understand the magnitude of what happened.
"Anytime I move my arm it hurts," Skylar said. "I was scared."
Adams said her daughter was asleep in the back seat of their BMW when they stopped for gas late Sunday night. They became victims of an attempted carjacking by a man fleeing law enforcement.
"We end up at the gas station to get gas, not knowing that the man who is on the chase, he had to hit a U-Turn and tried to come back up the street," Adams said. "His car was like a gray charger, and his lights were out, and when he came across, he almost hit us then. I ended up seeing the police come after him."
They were caught in the path of Roshauny Palmer, 25. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Palmer was arrested Sunday on charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping. He escaped custody, fled in his Dodge Charger, and led police on a chase in Dallas.
A Douglas County Sheriff's Office deputy subsequently located that car driving on I-20 East. Deputies tried to stop him, but Palmer refused. The deputy then performed a pit maneuver on the Dodge Charger, but the GBI said Palmer continued driving until it hit a tractor-trailer and came to a stop at the bottom of the Fulton Industrial Blvd.
"He came towards my car and was like, 'Give me your car! Give me your car!' So I jumped in the car, and I closed the door, and he ended up coming to the backside where she was, but she was lying down in the back seat, so as he was getting in the back seat, the police opened fire on the car," Adams said.
Surveillance video from the gas station shows Palmer running to the car, and the moment a Douglas County deputy pointed his gun. Seconds pass before bullets are fired.
"She was sleeping in the back seat, so she didn't even know she was hit until she saw me grab her in the car. I was screaming, 'They shot my baby! They shot my baby," Adams said.
Suspect leads deputy on chase, attempts to carjack BMW in escape that ends with child being hurt in shooting: GBI
Deputies took Palmer into custody. Skylar was taken to the hospital. Adams said she wasn't sure if Palmer had a weapon but saw him holding his pants while he was running.
"I'm very grateful that my baby's still here because it could have gone bad. They opened fire too fast. I just felt like they could have handled the situation differently because, at the end of the day, he was still right there in the car," Adams said. "When y'all came and pulled him out the car, he was still right here, so y'all fire and shoot up my whole car, not knowing it was me, my sister and my baby in the car? Y'all could have killed every last one of us."
11Alive asked the GBI and wasn't able to get clarity pending the investigation.
Palmer was taken into custody by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and is facing multiple charges from various agencies, the GBI said. The Dallas Police Department, in particular, has charged Palmer with the following:
- Obstruction of law enforcement officers
- Criminal attempt to commit murder
- Battery - intentionally causing substantial physical or visible bodily harm to another
- Battery - family violence
- False imprisonment - family violence
- Aggravated assault with the intent to rape, murder or rob
- Terroristic threats
- Kidnapping - family violence
- Escape
- Obstruction of law enforcement officers
- Possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies
- Reckless conduct
- Theft by taking
Palmer is facing multiple charges from two other agencies: Felony fleeing and attempting to elude, hijacking a motor vehicle in the second degree, cruelty to children and obstruction. The GBI will continue its investigation and present the case to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office for review.