Bella Padilla Everitt is a bookish 13-year-old who likes to write poetry.
Her brother, Eric Thomas, 16, was more into video games and outdoor fun like fishing and dirt bikes.
The siblings were two of the victims of shooting spree in Lake City in northern Lower Michigan Friday, Aug 14.
Bella survived her gunshot wounds. Eric did not.
“We just had a birthday party for Eric the weekend before all this happened,” their grandfather David Everett told the Free Press in a telephone interview Sunday, Aug. 16. “She had just learned to fish. We were out fishing and jet skiing and tubing and just having a good old time.”
Michigan State Police said it appears that Chad Hickman, 39, of Lake City is the gunman who shot seven people, including himself. Bella is the only one to survive.
Everitt said that as he understands it from police, Bella was in her bedroom when she was shot.
“She was kind of out of it, but she had gained consciounsness enough to call 911,” Everitt said. “She told them she was shot in the arm and she needs the police and they were there within 5 minutes and then the manhunt was on. But she identified the shooter. She gave them clues enough to pinpoint it was Chad. She’s a hero.”
Everitt said that Bella was flown to a hospital in Grand Rapids for surgery to remove a bullet from her esophagus. She was listed in critical condition but stable, Everitt said, noting she could need additional surgeries.
“So all vital signs are good,” he said. “She was talking to her father this morning.”
On Sunday afternoon, Bella’s family informed her that her mother and brother had died. They had delayed telling her, Everitt said, until she was stronger.
“She said she kind of knew it because she’d heard all the gunshots and she feels safer knowing that Chad can’t hurt her anymore,” the grandfather said.
Also killed at the home, Everitt said, was his daughter’s boyfriend, Shane McGowan, 47, who lived there with Amanda Everitt and the two children. McGowan spent time with both kids.
“He did things with them,” Everitt said. “He did outdoor stuff with them. They had a pool, they had to swim. He rode bikes with them, so you know, it wasn’t a bad life until Friday.”
Everitt described his Bella as shy. She was very close to her brother and spend a lot of time with her mom, writing poems and doing “girl stuff,” Everitt said.
“Being so timid, she didn’t get out a lot,” he said. “She would never assert herself into a crowd, but whenever anybody would talk to her, she would warm right up and she made easy friends.”
Bella and Eric both did well in school, thought not straight A’s, Everitt said.
Eric was preparing for his junior year at Lake City High School and had talked about going to college, though he didn’t have firm plans yet.
“He wanted to do school, knew he needed to do school,” Everitt said. “But just had not really picked anything.”
Everitt said the family is still reeling from the shooting. He was en route to a medical apppointment in Travserse City on Friday when he got a phone call from his son, who relayed word that there were several police cars and a SWAT team at Amanda’s house.
“So we all turned around and before I had gotten to Amanda’s house, it was locked out, shut down. SWAT was there,” he said. “They had helicopters flying over looking for Chad. The manhunt was on.”
Everitt said he began seeing photos on social media of the house surrounded by police vehicles and he feared the worst.
“I was praying to God,” he said. “We knew all the cops were at the house and already rumors were flying. Before I even got to the house, I’d seen four different posts and I heard five different rumors.
“At first everybody was deceased and then as we’re standing there, we were told that my granddaughter survived and she was being flown to Grand Rapids.”
Everitt said Hickman and McGowan had been friends since childhood. He said his daughter and grandchildren knew Hickman, as well. Everitt said he didn’t know what would have prompted such violence from Hickman.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses and other needs and will plan a memorial service when the time is right, Everitt said.
He said his daughter Amanda had worked for several years as an aide in a nursing home, but gave up her career to focus on her family.
“When the kids started growing up, she decided she was going to be a stay at home mom and they made it work,” he said.
Everitt said he is proud of his daughter and his granddaughter.
“I don’t want her to be remembered as the girl that got shot four times and made a phone call,” he said. “I want her to be remembered as Bella, you know, the girl, the hero. She’s just a great kid. I just can’t say enough good about this girl and now that I know how brave she has been, I have a whole new outlook on this girl.”
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X:@jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Northern Michigan shooting survivor ‘talking to her father’
Reporting by John Wisely, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Wisely, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
