'Mommy, am I gonna die?': 4-year-old girl shot by US police officer asks mother
New footage shows the horror of the accident earlier this year
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Your support makes all the difference.A mother has spoken of the moment her four-year-old daughter was mistakenly shot by a police officer who was attempting to fire at her family dog.
Ava Ellis suffered serious injuries after being hit at her home in Columbus, Ohio.
As she lay in her home, she continually cried out “Mommy, am I gonna die?" while paramedics battled to save her life, the girl’s mother told Inside Edition.
Ava, now five-years-old, suffered a gunshot wound that “shattered the bone” in her right leg after a Columbus police officer, who The Columbus Dispatch later identified as Jonathan Thomas, pulled his trigger.
“They had started to cut her pants off her and I just see blood everywhere,” Andrea Ellis, Eva's mother said, describing the events of 19 June.
Police explained to Inside Edition that they are “grateful to learn that healing is under way,” but Ms Ellis believes the incident was been wrongfully handled by police.
"Officer Thomas never said sorry, never said it was an accident, never said that he called for help or was going to call for help, never asked if Ava was OK, and never asked if he could check on Ava," Ms Ellis said.
Thomas, the officer who fired his gun, was responding to a different call in the Ellis’ neighbourhood when Andrea Ellis accidentally cut herself, while her sister Andrea went on to call for emergency services.
Police said at the time of the incident that Ellis’ dog charged at the officer, forcing him to fire at it - but mistakenly hitting Ava.
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