Aug 26, 2008 10:28 am US/Central
8-Year-Old Shooting Victim May Have Saved Baby
Nacole Polk Was Shot Sunday
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
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Eight-year-old Nacole Polk was shot while playing on her relatives' front porch in broad daylight in West Garfield Park Aug. 24, 2008.
CBS
From the moment her nine nieces and nephews were born, Nacole Polk loved to hold them -- to the point where her older siblings often had to force her to put them down.
Just before the 8-year-old was shot Sunday morning, she may have saved her 1-year-old niece's life by doing just that.
"I put her down so she wouldn't get hit," said an exhausted Nacole, fresh out of surgery Monday.
Nacole was shot in the abdomen Sunday morning while standing on the porch of her older sister's house in the 4300 block of West Gladys Avenue. Police said they responded to a call to the home about 9:40 a.m., and the girl was transported to Stroger Hospital. No further details were available, and the case remains under investigation, police said.
Neighbors said they heard faint gunshots about a block away, but heard a closer firecracker-like noise they believe was the bullet that pierced the young girl's stomach and lodged into her liver.
Family members, who described Nacole as "the old woman" and protective in nature, said she put her niece, Destiny, down on the porch moments before she was shot, possibly saving her life.
"If [Nacole] didn't put her down and Destiny was hit, she wouldn't have made it," said Norma Polk, Nacole's 17-year-old sister and the toddler's mother. "I'm glad it didn't happen to Destiny, but I'm sad it happened to my sister. But she's brave."
Family members recalled how the bravery kicked in from the moment Nacole was shot.
Norita Polk, Nacole's 22-year-old sister and whose house she was visiting when she was shot, said that she didn't realize that Nacole was shot because she would only say she had a stomachache. She barely cried and even walked to the ambulance.
"She was a trouper," Norita said.
But as Nacole lay sleepy-eyed and fragile in her hospital bed, tears welled in her eyes intermittently --and it wasn't due to physical pain or aftershock.
"I am sad because I wanted to see my nieces and nephews today," she said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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