A 2-year-old Tennessee girl is in critical condition after she was hit by a stray bullet while playing on her backyard slide.
Ariel Salaices was playing with her two brothers at her Mountain City home on March 15 when she was struck.
The toddler was rushed to the hospital, where doctors have been working on saving her life.
According to a Facebook page dedicated to keeping supporters up to date, as of March 22, Ariel was slowly improving.
Update from my sister. She is doing a bit better, ICP was in the low teens and her blood pressure seems to be ok, they…
God is SOO good, I can't say it enough. They are keeping her asleep of course, but they haven't had to manage her blood…
“She is doing a bit better,” a family member wrote on the page. “Her blood pressure seems to be ok, they are slowly stopping her blood pressure meds, they stopped her EPI drip, and by Saturday they will wean her off the phenobarbitol.”
“Prayers are working!” the relative added.
In the previous update, the relative said: “God is SOO good, I can’t say it enough. They are keeping her asleep of course, but they haven’t had to manage her blood pressure, and her ICP is down to 19! Praise the Lord!”
“Doctor said she is still critical of course, but as of now she’s happy where she stands. The neurologist comes back in Monday, and we will get more information and go from there. I’ll probably do another update tomorrow evening same time. Thank you everyone for those prayers! He hears them!” the family member said.
In a GoFundMe, relatives said that the stray bullet hit the right back side of her head. The bullet fractured and penetrated her skull, severing an artery and causing extensive damage.
The damage led to a stroke.
Investigation
Christina Salaices, the girl’s mother, said that she was at work when she received a phone call telling her that Ariel had been hit.
She told WJHL that the bullet ricocheted off a metal post on the playset.
Her husband was watching the three children when it happened.
“He was making cookies for them believe it or not,” Salaices said. “Next thing I know, she’s outside and she had somehow made it from the playground to the stairs, which is probably a couple of feet, it wasn’t too far, but she had fallen off the playground set, walked to the stairs and collapsed in front of him.”
Johnson County Sheriff Eddie Tester said that investigators are probing the case, trying to find who fired the bullet.
When they find the person responsible that person will be charged with reckless endangerment, he said.
Anyone with information was asked to call the sheriff’s office at 423-727-7761.
‘Come Forward’
Relatives urged the person who shot the bullet to come forward.
“I just have to say that even if it was an accident, I know they have to know what happened. It’s been all over the news. They really need to come forward,” Ariel’s aunt Stephanie Brown told ABC.
She noted that there is a gun range close to the family’s house but that investigators don’t think the shot came from there.
Brown said that Ariel’s parents are keeping a vigil at the girl’s bedside, staying at a Ronald McDonald House near the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
“Ariel is a very spunky little girl. She’s sassy and she’s full of life. She’s definitely not one who wants to sit still,” Brown added.
