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Family, community supporting Nash 7-year-old paralyzed after drive-by shooting

The community is rallying around a Nash County second-grader left paralyzed after a drive-by shooting.
Posted 2019-11-15T23:31:10+00:00 - Updated 2019-11-16T01:23:08+00:00
#HopeForMiasia supporting paralyzed girl

The community is rallying around a Nash County second-grader left paralyzed after a drive-by shooting.

Seven-year-old Miasia Perry was playing on a hoverboard inside her grandparents’ house in Nashville on Sept. 5 when a bullet ripped through the wall and a couch and landed in her spine.

"When they said Miasia had got shot, I lost it," said her grandmother, Dorothy Stallings, who still cannot comprehend the senseless violence.

"Somebody who would do something like that to a 7-year-old?" Stallings said.

Jhosmin Sandoval, 23, has been charged in the shooting and remains in the Nash County jail under $500,000 bond. Investigators are still looking for another person in the case.

Miasia Perry, 7, was left paralyzed after a bullet from a drive-by shooting in Nashville lodged in her spine on Sept. 5, 2019.
Miasia Perry, 7, was left paralyzed after a bullet from a drive-by shooting in Nashville lodged in her spine on Sept. 5, 2019.

Miasia has risen to the challenge with a smile, adapting to her new life in a wheelchair and days filled with doctor's appointments and physical therapy.

But for those who love her, it’s not easy.

"They said that she would not walk again," Stallings said. "It’s hard to see a 7-year-old not being able to walk."

"She says, 'Grandma, I love to dance, but my legs ain’t working now,'" Stallings added.

Nashville Elementary School and the community have also risen to the challenge, raising money to help Miasia and her family.

"She thinks it’s great. She loves people rallying around her," Stallings said.

A GoFundMe account has already raised more than $4,300 to help with Miasia's medical bills, and Queen Status Fitness Studio, at 207 S. Pine St. in Spring Hope, is hosting the "Standing up for Miasia 5K Walk/Roll/Run" fundraiser from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday to raise money, followed by contests, food and shopping in the area until 2 p.m. to raise even more.

"[I wish her] a happy life, joyful. I hope she can manage, I think she can," Stallings said. "We’ll be there to help her."

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