A DeKalb County woman was critically injured early Wednesday morning when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet while she was home asleep, officials said.
Lashunda Heath-Ellison was taken to the hospital after her husband and children found her unresponsive, according to Channel 2 Action News. Her husband, Mac Ellison, told the news station he woke up shortly after midnight to the sound of Heath-Ellison’s ragged breathing. When Ellison was able to turn his wife over, he saw “blood everywhere,” he said.
“I stand here completely devastated, not knowing what is next but trusting God for everything,” Ellison said.
Heath-Ellison was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where doctors found a bullet lodged in her head, Channel 2 reported. According to Ellison, the bullet traveled through the couple’s headboard, into the top of his wife’s head and stopped in her sinus cavity.
“We go back in the house and we see where it went through the wall, and right where she was laying,” Ellison told Channel 2.
DeKalb police confirmed the shooting but shared few details. Officers responded to the Ellison household on Wilkins Court just before 12:45 a.m. Wednesday for a person shot call, police said. Investigators quickly determined the bullet came from outside the home but are still working to figure out where the round was fired. No suspects have been identified.
“It hit my wife, and now my wife is fighting for her life,” Ellison said. “Critical condition. And yet, we’re praying, and we’re asking for all the prayers of parishioners, family and friends.”
Ellison is a full-time barber and also a pastor at Temple of Faith Ministries, according to a 2020 interview with Delaware State University student newspaper The Hornet. He told Channel 2 he was hopeful for his wife’s recovery but angry that she could be so severely injured in the assumed safety of their home.
“You can’t just take a gun and shoot it in the air and not realize what’s on the other side,” Ellison said. “Because what’s on the other side is not just a tree, but it’s somebody’s wife, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s relative.”
About the Author
