LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville high schooler who was shot in the back on his way to track practice Tuesday afternoon is out of the hospital, at home and walking on his own.
Howie Gant, a 16-year-old duPont Manual High School student, was in the car with his mother, Lanita Gant, and 11-year-old sister, Lailah, when they were shot at around 3 p.m. while sitting at a stop light at Seventh and Hill streets.
"I told the kids, 'Just get down,'" Lanita Gant said returning to the scene Wednesday, "and it wasn't a 'Pow;' it was, 'Boom ... boom boom.' My son said they pulled right up, they had on ski masks, and then they started shooting."
Lanita and Howard Gant revisited the stop light where their car was shot up at random on Tuesday, March 9, at 7th and Hill Streets in Louisville's Algonquin neighborhood while on their way to their son's track practice.
Photos from Rachel Stump, who lives near the scene, show the family's car riddled with bullet holes. Some of those bullets hit 11-year-old Laylah, a young gymnast, as she was sitting in the back seat.
"She had been grazed eight different times down her leg," Lanita Gant said.
Eleven-year-old Laylah, a young gymnast, was sitting in the back seat of her family's car when they were shot at while sitting at a stop light on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 in Louisville's Algonquin neighborhood. Her mother says she was grazed eight times down her leg.
The family said Howie, who was sitting in the front seat, didn't know he was shot but felt his back burning after getting out of the car. It wasn't until his sister looked that they realized he had been shot.
"It's a blessing that we're not talking about funerals and stuff like that," Howard Gant said.
The Gant family left with joy to still have their children — but also confusion and anger.
Lanita Gant said she remembers hearing around 10 shots as she drove her son to track practice at Manual. Now, the words of a witness who rolled up right after the gunfire are replaying for her over and over again.
"'Wrong car; that's the wrong car,'" she recalled. "I said, 'Yes, it's the wrong f****** car.'"
Howie, a duPont Manual High School student, was in the car with his mother and 11-year-old sister when they were shot at while sitting at a stop light on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 7th and Hill Streets in Louisville's Algonquin neighborhood.
LMPD said the family was not targeted — innocent victims among the latest in a surge of violence in Louisville.
Last year, the city broke a record with 173 murders and is now on track to more than double that number by the end of 2021.
Now, a top city leader said he's willing to use tax dollars in a new way to help find a solution.
Metro Council President David James, a retired LMPD officer, said shooting cases go unsolved as witnesses won't talk, fearing they'll be the next victim.
Louisville Metro Police investigates after a teenage male was shot near Seventh and Hill streets Tuesday, March 9, 2021, in Louisville, Ky. Photo courtesy of Rachel Stump.
"It is a legitimate concern, and that's why, in this year's budget, one of the things I'm going to be pushing for is a victim/witness relocation fund, where people are living in an area where it is not safe for them to speak up about those things because they witnessed something or they are a victim to something and they're worried about speaking up about it," James said.
The lack of people coming forward with information leads to no arrests being made, keeping dangerous people on the streets.
"As a part of our violence reduction, we'll be able to provide a relocation service, to get them that first month's rent and that deposit to move them out of the geographic location that has really got them and their families in danger," James said, adding that he is working with community activist Christopher 2X to get a proposal together in the near future.
Meanwhile, Lanita and Howard Gant are grateful for the outpouring of community support and holding out hope for answers. They said it's what their kids deserve.
"I said, 'You got to find out who this is,'" Lanita Gant said. "They need the justice, and if they do find them, we'll all go to court."
Anyone with information that may help solve this case is asked to call LMPD's crime tip hotline at 502-574-LMPD (5673).
Related Stories:
- LMPD investigating after teenager shot in Algonquin neighborhood
- Louisville Police investigate after 9 people — including 3 children — injured in Tuesday shootings
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