Atlanta nursing student heroically aids wounded child injured in shooting

Tyler Fingert
·2 min read
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ATLANTA - A nursing student and tech at Northside Hospital was in the right place at the right time during a shooting in southwest Atlanta on Friday. She heard gunshots and sprang into action to help a 12-year-old who was shot multiple times.

"I heard gunshots, and I looked out the window and saw a child holding another child and one was covered in blood," said Pilar Munoz-Chavarria.

The shooting happened near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Hamilton E Holmes Drive.

A viewer captured a frightening video of the scene. FOX 5 blurred the video, but it shows the aftermath of a shooting involving a child.

Munoz-Chavarria happened to be on her way to work on Friday night when fate had her near the shooting, and she jumped in to help. In the viewer video you can see her tending to a 12-year-old boy who was shot multiple times.

"I took him in my hands, and I made sure they weren't messing with him, and they were applying pressure to the wounds because he was bleeding profusely," she said.

The boy has been identified as 12-year-old Ja’Quavious. Over the weekend, the victim’s mom told FOX 5 he and his older brother were on their way to sell water when someone started shooting. They believe he was an innocent bystander.

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The family says the boy was struck three times. One of the bullets shattered his arm. A second hit him in the stomach while a third is still lodged near his spine. Munoz-Chavarria says the scene was chaotic.

"I was trying to calm him down and maintain pressure and wait for help," she said.

For Munoz-Chavarria, she is happy she was able to use her training to help.

"I'm just grateful he's alive, that was my biggest concern," she said. "I wasn't worried about anything else, I just wanted to make sure he got help, and he survived."

Atlanta Police say they are investigating, but so far nobody has been arrested.

The boy remains hospitalized at Children’s Egleston Hospital.

The family has created a GoFundMe.