Paralyzed Girl Forgives Man Who Shot Her And Shattered Her Spine

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A five-year-old girl, Kai Leigh Harriott, wheelchair bound after a bullet paralyzed her three years ago, forgave the man who shot her and told him what he had done to her was wrong. She did this to his face, in court.

After breaking down and crying, the girl picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and said to Anthony Warren ‘What you done to me was wrong…..but I still forgive him.' Anthony Warren had pleaded guilty to shooting her, shots that paralyzed the girl.

Kai Lee Harriot used to be able to walk. She had been a healthy little girl. Almost three years ago she had been sitting on a porch. Warren had had an argument with some people who lived in the first floor of the house (a building which housed three families). He returned at about 11pm and shot three times at the house. His target had been the person he had had an argument with - not Kai. Kai, three years' old at the time, was hit by one of the bullets. She had been sitting there on the porch with her older sister.

The bullet shattered the little girl's spine. From that moment onwards she lost all movement from the chest down.

Warren was sentenced to 13-15 years in prison and 5 years' probation.

Hopefully, one day, as medicine makes new headways in neuroscience, Kai may eventually be able to get up from her wheelchair and walk again, unaided. I am humbled by her benevolence. She will always be an example to me of how good and untainted a human can be. I am 50 and she is five - yet she is light-years ahead of me.

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A child's message of grace amazes her city

Hair stylist Cathleen Foster came home Thursday after a long day of cutting and coloring at the Newbury Street salon where she works. In the quiet of her living room, she turned on the 10 o'clock news, and was drawn to the story of a little girl shot and paralyzed by a stray bullet.

Then she was floored, by the little girl's words, her composure, and her tears.

''When she lost it, I lost it," Foster said. ''I was sobbing not just because of what happened to her, but because a mother, in the year 2006, was able to raise that type of child."

As in other places throughout the city, it seemed the story of Kai Leigh Harriott was all anyone could talk about at the Beaucage Salon and Spa yesterday. Over the clip-clip of the scissors and the hum of the hairdryers, stylists debated the little girl's words of forgiveness for Anthony Warren, the man who had shot her. Clients with foils in their hair chimed in.

Some, like Foster, wished they possessed the same compassion the 5-year-old showed.

Others said the family should have demanded ''an eye for an eye," that the girl hasn't fully comprehended what the shooter has taken from her.

Mark Yessian, sitting on the Commonwealth Avenue mall, had just returned from out of town when he heard the story. He said he hoped Kai Leigh's message would resonate in Boston, especially at this time of year.

''It seemed to be a way to soften the tension in the city, with all the shootings," Yessian said. ''Ideally, it would get others to think twice when shooting in the air."

Further down the mall, Marrissa Roberts, a Bay State College student, said she would ''never be able to forgive someone for that."

At their home in Roxbury yesterday, Kai Leigh's mother, Tonya David, said the phone had not stopped ringing. Dignitaries, community leaders, television reporters, and neighbors wanted to know more. CNN ran the story with the words ''Amazing Grace" across the screen.

David didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about.

''We live in a world today that seems to want people to be bitter, angry," David said. ''But I don't want bitterness and anger in my life, and I don't want that for Kai Leigh. We are Christians. I tried very hard from the depths of my soul to hate Anthony, but it wouldn't come out."

Television footage being replayed nationwide yesterday showed David hugging Warren, 29, after he apologized for shooting her daughter and just before he was sentenced to 13 to 15 years in state prison. She only intended to shake his hand, she said, but he surprised her when he pulled her in for an embrace. Inspired by her daughter's strength, David said she couldn't let the man go.

''I whispered in his ear: 'Here is your chance for a new beginning. Don't let God down,' " said David, a devoted member of Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan.

As her mother spoke, Kai Leigh watched cartoons, played video games, and whizzed about in her wheelchair yesterday, seemingly oblivious of the commotion she had provoked. Instead, she said she is looking forward to picking out her dress for Easter. She said she had a tough day in court Thursday. She was glad it was over.

Asked by a reporter why she forgave the man who shot her, she shyly but clearly said: ''I wanted him to tell the world the truth." Warren had for three years denied the shooting, but changed his plea Thursday.

''I know he didn't mean to do it," Kai Leigh said.

With Easter approaching, members of the clergy said they hope that Kai Leigh's message will echo in neighborhoods often shaken by violence.