Teen who was wounded in bed by stray bullet returns home

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — The teenager who was wounded by a stray bullet during a deadly weekend shooting is back home and recovering in Shreveport’s Cedar Grove neighborhood.

Kaliah Lewis, 16, returned from the hospital Monday morning after being treated there for a gunshot wound to her left calf that she suffered while asleep in bed early Sunday morning.

“My cousin was in front of me. She was hearing the gunshots. And she was trying to wake me up as she got on the floor or whatever. And I didn’t wake up. I was like in a deep sleep or whatever. And then I had got hit.”

It was just before 4 a.m. Sunday when a hail of gunfire struck Michael Wilson, the 53-year-old man who was driving the car that got stuck in Kaliah’s front yard while apparently trying to get away from someone in another vehicle.

For Kaliah’s mom, Venisha Lewis, it was a nightmare scenario. “You come outside, you got a car and a body laying on your yard and bullets in your house.

"You know, It really makes you want to pack your bags and move ‘cuz you hear the shots every week. Matter of fact, it was more shooting last night. We just had already left the house before they stopped shooting.”

Kaliah said she hears gunfire "... probably about every week or two, or every day. It depends. ... In this area, like sometimes in those apartments, sometimes on the back street. It’s just everywhere over here.”

While much of the attention during our recent spate of violence rightfully focuses on the victim and or the accused, there are others who get caught in the middle, often leading to what can be called collateral damage.

Case in point is Lewis’s next-door neighbor Patricia Allen. Several windows in her car were blown out by stray bullets.

Having only recently moved to Shreveport and with no family nearby, she described some very tough financial decisions she likely soon will face.

So she spent much of Monday trying to figure out how to create a GoFundMe account. By late afternoon and with a little help, she got it up and running. Her goal — just short of $600; the amount needed to repair her vehicle.

Police have not yet identified a suspect.

Authorities urge anyone with any information about the fatal shooting to call Shreveport police at (318) 673-7300 and select option 3.

Or contact Shreveport-Caddo Crime Stoppers by calling (318) 673-7373, visiting the organization’s website or using the P3 Tips app to submit information anonymously.

Crime Stoppers pays up to $2,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of those responsible for crimes.

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