George Floyd’s four-year-old great-niece is recovering at home nearly a month and a half after she was shot in Houston, and family members still want to know why it took police hours to respond.
“It’s has been a long journey, and we’re still going,” said her mother, Bianca Williams.
That journey began on January 1, 2022.
“At about two in the morning, that’s when we heard shots coming in, and Arianna jumped up and said, ‘Ow, I’ve been hit!’ and she was covered in blood,” said Williams.
Williams carried her daughter downstairs and the family frantically began calling 911.
“Contacted HPD, no answer, no answer,” she said. “I drove my daughter to the hospital myself.”
Arianna was then life-flighted to Texas Children’s Hospital, where they discovered she had three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and liver, as well as COVID-19. She was in the ICU for a week, unable to breathe on her own, and had three blood transfusions.
“I just couldn’t believe it. It’s overwhelming,” said Williams.
Now, she’s back at home, but still has a long road to recovery ahead.
“Arianna is traumatized,” her mom said. “She doesn’t sleep by herself. She hears loud noises, she’s scared.”
Nearly six weeks later, her family still has questions about why the police didn’t arrive until hours later.
“I called at 2:30, we called seven, eight times,” said Williams. “They arrived four, five hours later the next day. The sun was up.”
“Five hours, really, that’s no good. Somebody has to be held accountable,” Arianna’s aunt,
LaTonya Floyd said.
The Houston Police Department says the investigations into the delayed response and the shooting are ongoing.
“I don’t feel safe,” Williams said. “I feel like my city has failed me.”
With each news report of another child victim of gun violence, Williams says she relives her own pain.
“No parent, nobody should have to go through that,” she said.
But she’s doing something about it, starting a nonprofit called Ari Strong.
“I created Ari Strong to help families who’ve been through traumatic experiences like myself,” she said, “Nobody talks about what we go through when we go home and we’re still a mother, we still have to be a parent. Mentally, it’s draining. Emotionally, it’s draining. I don’t know why we were targeted, but I’m going to take this pain and I’m going to make it my purpose.”
Williams says she’s also looking for legal help as she seeks justice for her daughter and answers about the delayed police response.
