LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A duPont Manual High School senior who was shot in the back at age 16 will graduate as the ultimate story of grace and grit.
Last week, two years after the attack, Howie Gant signed a letter of intent to play football at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky, on a full athletic scholarship.
“I’ve been playing football my whole life, since I was five years old,” Gant said. “ I’m thankful for this offer from Lindsey Wilson, really appreciate it.”
Gant was on his way to track practice in March of 2021 riding in a car with his mother behind the wheel and 11-year old sister Lailah in the backseat when they were ambushed at a stoplight near 7th Street and Hill Street. The family found themselves ducking for cover in the car as a barrage of bullets came their way.
Pictures from the scene show the shattered glass littering the sidewalk and Lanita Gant’s car riddled with bullet holes.
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.
“Standing back looking at my car, I thought, 'How am I alive?’" she said. “They just wore my door out and I was so angry.”
Miraculously all of the Gants were OK. Eight bullets grazed Lailah Gant in the legs and the shot that hit Howie Gant in the back didn’t lodge. Both kids were released from the hospital the same day.
“They told me if I didn't work out (it could have been a different outcome).” Howie Gant said. “The muscles in my back is what kind of stopped it. So, it kind of made me smile and made me feel better.”
For the Gants, the doctors' words were unforgettable and so were those of a witness who drove off at the scene right behind the shooter.
“Wrong car.”
At the time of the crime, Louisville Metro Police confirmed this family wasn't a target, they were innocent victims in this attack. Two years later, a department spokesperson said there have been no arrests in the case.
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.
It’s a recurring theme as Louisville faces a surge of gun violence in recent years. Over 500 people in the city were shot the same year as Howie Gant and close to 200 were killed.
Many of them were teens just like Gant and more than half of those shootings remain unsolved.
It motivated Lanita Gant to start the Three Honeys Teddy Bear Foundation, a nonprofit offering an empathetic ear and resources to victims of gun violence.
“When these incidents happen to families it is very important to follow up immediately with therapy,” Lanita Gant said. “(Both kids) had private therapists that worked with them for eight weeks."
At first, Howie Gant said the fear of gunshots would wake him out of his sleep but he didn't seek revenge or forward the cycle of violence.
Instead, he focused on the football field.
“Coming back my junior year I knew it was going to be a tough test making sure my mental was right,” Howie Gant said.
Howie Gant recently signed to play football in college at Lindsey Wilson.
By the end of his senior year Howie Gant, a 5-foot-10 safety who runs a 4.5 second 40-yard dash, had tallied 46 tackles on the season.
Manual football coach Donnie Stoner said he reached out to several colleges on Gant’s behalf motivated as much by the student’s character as his ability.
“He was one man that was so under-recruited and I work tirelessly and lost sleep at night to ensure that he got him something,” Stoner said. “I know what his passion and his dream was and his end goal was to go play college football.”
The coaches from Lindsey Wilson College said they were unaware of the shooting two years ago. In Howie, they saw a solid student with talent and versatility on the field.
“He plays in the secondary and plays in a position where he could fit into three different positions for us whether it's our field outside linebacker or strong safety or free safety mix," said Phil Kleckler, Lindsey Wilson head coach.
Lindsey Wilson College is a defensive powerhouse in NAIA football. The team posted a 10-2 record last season holding opponents to an average of 10 points a game. The school made it to the NAIA FCS quarterfinals last season.
“Oh, I’m so proud I just have to hold myself together,” Lanita Gant said as she beamed with pride thinking about her son’s accomplishment. “So, every kid that's involved in shootings doesn't have to take that path. Find your passion, work through it, don’t work out in the street.”
Howie Gant says he hopes to study human biology in college and one day be a chiropractor.
“I do my job and I work hard,” he said. “(Lindsey Wilson) they’re getting a leader.”
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