Donations pour in for 17-month-old girl struck by bullet fragments in Odessa shooting

Support continued to pour in Sunday for a 17-month-old who was struck by a bullet fragment from the gunman in the Odessa-Midland shootings Saturday.

Anderson Davis was one of 22 victims, which include law enforcement officers, shot and wounded by a gunman Saturday afternoon.

A GoFundMe campaign for Anderson was established with a goal of $200,000. As of Sunday evening, it had raised more than $172,000.

Seven people, including a mail carrier whose vehicle the suspect carjacked, were fatally shot during the shooting spree by the gunman who was identified as Seth Ator, 36, of Odessa. Ator also had lived in Amarillo, Lorena and Waco, according to online records.

Ator who began firing at a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper during a traffic stop was shot and killed Saturday afternoon.

Anderson was taken to Lubbock by helicopter ambulance.

“Anderson is a live and that is a prayer answered bigger than I’ve ever had to pray,” her mother wrote on the GoFundMe. A friend, Haylee Wilkerson, created the campaign. “Her vitals are good. She is being flown to Lubbock while we drive. Not getting to fly with her is beyond painful.”

Anderson had shrapnel in her right chest, but her mother said it was only a superficial wound.

The bullet fragment caused a hole through her bottom lip and tongue, and her front teeth were knocked out, her mother said on the campaign page.

“She is alive,” her mother said. “When others today are not alive.”

At the time she commented Saturday afternoon, Anderson’s mother believed there had been three shooters, more than 20 shot and four or more dead. Authorities later said there was only one gunman.

During a news conference Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott read a text message from Anderson’s mother: “Toddlers are funny because they can get shot but still want run around and play. Her mouth is bad but will heal and can be fixed. Thankfully it doesn’t seem like her jaw was hit, just lip, teeth and tongue. She is having surgery tomorrow to remove the shrapnel from her chest.”

On the GoFundMe page, Anderson’s mother asked for prayers.

“Pray for complete healing of Anderson, pray for every other family in our same situation, or worse, today and pray for the shooters,” her mother said. “Pray that whatever is causing them to do his will be defeated by God and they will stop shooting.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2019 at 5:10 PM.