7-year-old has nightmares after shooting

ATLANTA — The mother of a 7-year-old shot inside their northwest Atlanta apartment said she's angry her daughter has to live in fear.

Quaerra Crawford was in the apartment near her bed when a bullet from an AK-47 tore through her leg. On Friday, her mother spoke exclusively to Channel 2's Ryan Young from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where the girl is recovering.

"I'm very angry. You know, I ask God to help me to forgive and I try to understand what's going on," Dionna Scott said. "I know there's a plan, a purpose, but it's that initial  …  rage."

The shooting happened Monday night. Atlanta police arrested 32-year-old Jacobi Gilbert in connection with the shooting at the Shawnee Apartments on Gun Club Drive. Family members said they don't know him.

"I told her, 'Get on the ground,' and she collapsed," Scott said. "I thought it was me, and it was her. There was blood everywhere."

Scott said the arrest has helped, but her daughter is still scared.

"(She's) having nightmares, don't want to talk, don't want to eat," Scott said. "All her spirit is gone."

Scott said her goal is to leave the apartments where the shooting happened, but she said the housing authority is not responding to her request to move.

"The only thing they're saying is, 'This is not an emergency to us,'" she said.

WSBTV