AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
His smile and optimism gone new vegas1/18/2024 ![]() ![]() I wanted to experience college, basketball and just grow to be the person I want to become.”ĭue to the extent of her injuries and damage that was done, doctors believed it could take up to six to eight months for her to be able to walk again. “What’s kept me so positive is I wanted to continue life.” Gayles said as tears welled in her eyes. “It was very hard at first, I was scared and I had thoughts where I didn’t know if I could play again and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to walk again the same.”Īttempts to get information from The North Las Vegas Police Department were unsuccessful.Īs one can imagine there were many difficult moments throughout the process, but through it all Gayles said she remained positive. “We focused on my movements,” Gayles said. Aaliyah Gayles/Courtesy Aaliyah Gayles/Courtesy Aaliyah Gayles/Courtesy She learned how to get out of bed, stand up, walk, shoot hoops all over again. She stayed in the ICU for nearly three months until she moved to a rehabilitation center where she would reside for another three months. With enough pain for a lifetime, and moments after an event no one could even fathom going through, in unique fashion Gayles was joking with paramedics and laughing with medical staff. Fourteen bullets, 18 entry and exit wounds throughout her arms and legs, broken bones, rods, pins and reattached arteries. She was rushed into emergency surgery where she received two surgeries to repair blood vessels in her legs. The paramedics arrived and transported her to University Medical Center where she received CT scans and X-rays to see if there was any internal bleeding and bullet fragments. “My heart was racing and as we left out the front door I fell down the stairs, my body was just not functioning properly.” “I lost all train of thought my body went numb and my hand would not function as I’m running through the house to put on clothes and grab my keys,” Lockett said in an over the phone interview. ![]() Her mother, Malkia Lockett, described it as the worst day of her life, and is still emotional when recounting what happened. “If it wasn’t for her, the way my eyes were closing I felt like I was gone,” Gayles recounts. Though her loved ones were feeling terror, she said she remained calm throughout the whole situation. “My body felt very hot like when you touch a hot stove momentarily, but it didn’t really hurt.”įrantic calls to her parents, brothers and friends ensued. “It stung,” Gayles said as she sat relaxed on the couch with a hoodie over her head. Screams, cries for help, pools of blood on the black hardwood floors, bullet holes in the walls, it was like something out of a movie. The shooting ceased and a new reality creeped in. Jackson, who was hit too, tried to shield Gayles by laying on top of her. Shots rang out throughout the house.Īs the first shots went off and as they tried to run away Gayles was hit in the legs and fell to the floor. She remembered people at the party, two boys in black ski masks came in and without notice her girlfriend was punched in the face. As police are still investigating, Gayles didn’t want to get into very much detail. She and her girlfriend kept to themselves and engaged with some friends. Gayles, quiet by nature and an observer at heart, was in a wallflower mood. The following day on Easter weekend, although initially hesitant, but convinced to go by her girlfriend, Janaye Jackson, she attended a house party in North Las Vegas. Twenty-four hours later, life had different plans. Reuniting with old friends and teammates, creating new experiences, and playing the sport she most loved, she was at the top. With 25 other girls who all shared in the sacrifices, struggle, hard work and frustration to get to that moment, it was a time to have fun and savor it. She had offers from schools around the country, but ultimately decided to commit to the University of Southern California. An explosive, athletic point guard with a knack for scoring, attacking the basket and creating for her teammates, she was ranked the eighth overall best player in the country in the class of 2022. It was April 15 and Gayles, 18, was gearing up to play in the Jordan Brand Classic, an elite high school basketball all-star game where the top girls and boys players in the senior class compete against one another. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |