ATHENS, Ga. — Editor's note: The video above is from a previous web story
A 14-year-old and 5-year-old are recovering after being shot Wednesday while warming up for dance practice along North Avenue in Athens.
Navaeh Hogue, who's arm is in a sling, spoke to 11Alive's Cody Alcorn via zoom on Friday about those terrifying moments a stray bullet came through the front window.
Hogue said she and the other dancers had just put down their things and were warming up for practice.
"We came back to the front. We were near the glass (windows)," Hogue said.
She said 5-year-old Na'vaeh Brown was standing near her at the front of the building.
"It was like a couple minutes later, I just looked out the window and I saw commotion," Hogue said. "The next thing I know, I saw a gun."
"My instinct is to just grab whoever's closest to me but when I tried to grab (Na'vaeh) my arm started to go numb and my ears started ringing and I couldn't hear anything," she said.
She didn't realize it in the moment, but both of the girls had been shot.
"We all started running to the back, as we were running to the back, I fell, that's when I hit my arm and that's how I knew I was shot," Hogue said.
Hogue's mom said she was shot in the back of her arm. Luckily, it entered and exited without hit anything major. However, 5-year-old Na'vaeh Brown was shot in the eye.
"The said my daughter's arm actually slowed the bullet down just because it had to pierce through her first," Hogue's mom explained.
Hogue was rushed to the hospital and later released. Her wound will have to partially heal on it's own. As for Brown, she was transferred to Atlanta's Children Healthcare where she's underwent two surgeries as of Friday night.
Her mom said the bullet split her daughter's eyeball and then grazed the bridge of her nose.
Everyone knows things could have been a lot worse and Hogue's quick thinking likely saved Brown's life.
"I'm a proud mom," Hogue's mom said.
As of Friday night, Athens-Clarke Police have only publicly identified one suspect who's been arrested. Witnesses said the bullet that hit both girls was a stray bullet that came from a shootout in the parking between two different groups. None of the individuals who did the shooting were hit, only the two innocent little girls.
Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to call the Athens-Clarke Police Department.