A boy named Miracle because he almost died at birth is a survivor once again.
Miracle D. Barnett got his name because he was not breathing when he was born, and his twin had already died.
But he pulled through, and he's now an active 7-year-old who enjoys basketball and karate.
On Wednesday, his latest miracle was surviving a bullet through his left calf that missed his arteries and bone.
“He's a lucky little boy,” a doctor told his grandmother, Billie Barnett.
Barnett's niece, Debra Taylor, had taken care of Miracle and his 5-year-old sister, Zianti, overnight at her house near 51st and Pratt Streets.
Taylor, 36, was backing out of her driveway with the children in the backseat just before 8 a.m. when a dark blue Chevrolet Suburban pulled up behind her, blocking her SUV.
A man hanging out of the Chevy window fired at the car many times, Barnett said.
Taylor yelled at Miracle and Zianti to duck. A bullet pierced the car seat and then went through Miracle's left calf. Another bullet grazed Taylor.
Omaha police are looking for the Suburban, which headed south on 50th Street after the shooting. Officers found several shell casings in front of a home in the area.
Taylor drove Miracle to Creighton University Medical Center.
Billie Barnett said her grandson was doing well Wednesday night. Doctors kept him in the hospital overnight to make sure he didn't develop an infection or blood clots.
The Barnett family moved from Fort Worth, Texas, to Omaha about a month ago, after Billie Barnett's oldest son, Dwayne Barnett, 44, an uncle of the children, was shot and killed in Fort Worth.
She said it's hard to experience more gun violence less than six months after her son died. “I thought my life was over,” Barnett said.
She said she believes Wednesday's incident was gang-related, though she doesn't know who would have done it.
The children are shaken up, Barnett said, adding that Miracle has been jumpy since the shooting.
She said Miracle is an A and B student at Rose Hill Elementary School.
“They're just babies,” Barnett said of Miracle and his sister. “They don't know about no gunplay.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1084, roseann.moring@owh.com
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