RANDOM SHOOTING BRINGS ROOKIE'S FAMILY TO WINNIPEG
It was just more than a week ago when Demerio Houston's life changed in a hail of bullets.
Fresh off his first CFL training camp, through which he earned a spot on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice roster, the 24-year-old defensive back called home to Charlotte, N.C., to see how his wife and three kids were doing.
While on the phone with his wife at midnight, Winnipeg time, their 12-year-old daughter, Hi'Lynn, ran in from her bedroom saying something about gunshots.
“I think I got shot,” Hi'Lynn told her mom.
At first, Houston thought his daughter had been playing Fortnite and was referring to being shot in the video game.
“I was like, `Well, it's late, I don't think she should be up playing at one o'clock in the morning,' ” he told his wife, Ashley.
That's when Ashley began yelling their daughter had been hit by a live bullet, not by a virtual one in a video game.
“At the moment, a lot was going on, and she was trying to stay calm and collected for the kids,” Houston said. “But I thought I heard her say that Hi'Lynn was shot in the head ... I just panicked, and was freaking out. I'm here in Canada. I'm a whole 24 hours away, away from my family. And that was just a scary moment.”
It turned out the bullet hit Hi'Lynn in her thigh. Still bad, but not immediately life-threatening.
“Just being shot, period, knowing that I wasn't there to protect my family, it was a devastating moment,” Houston said. “So she got off the phone with me, called her mom and was calling 911.
And I tried to call the coaches to let them know I wanted to go home.”
Houston says police told them their neighbour's home was actually the target, taking 10 bullets.
Three bullets entered Houston's home: one ricocheted off a ceiling fan and into the headboard above his seven-year-old son, Jace. Another went into the attic and one into his daughter's leg.
“My house was caught in the crossfire,” he said.
It could have been worse if Hi'Lynn hadn't been sleeping in an unusual position.
“If she was sleeping normally ... the detective said it should have hit her chest, or higher. I'm just grateful she's still here with us today.”
Houston was up all night, finally getting hold of head coach Mike O'Shea and defensive backs coach Jordan Younger.
This isn't a problem most coaches can relate to.
“Very foreign to me, obviously, and to most Canadians, given our gun laws,” O'Shea said. “You can't ever say you know what he's going through by any stretch of the imagination. It's horrible. So you just give him all the options and you try and facilitate anything he needs done.
“Just be there. Have your door open. Let him use your phone. Whatever it is they need at the time to get them through. I can't — it's unimaginable.”
Houston's wife decided that instead of Houston rushing home and giving up his dream of landing a job in pro football, the family would come to Winnipeg.
Houston tried to go to work the next day, thinking it might be a welcome distraction.
“I was here for practice, but I wasn't here, mentally,” he said. “That was a real rough day for me. I couldn't focus.”
When Hi'Lynn got out of the hospital, Ashley packed up her daughter, son Jace and sixmonth-old Campbell and made the move to Manitoba.
How long they'll be here, Houston's not sure.
“We're just trying to do what's best for our kids and the family and making sure we get Hi'Lynn the best treatment,” he said.
“Right now they're adjusting. They actually like Winnipeg.”
The bullet remains in
Hi'Lynn's thigh, too close to the bone for doctors to operate immediately. She could have the surgery here.
The emotional scars will take time to heal.
“The first day she was not wanting to sleep,” Houston said. “She was saying, `I can't sleep, because the last time I was asleep I almost lost my life.' But now that she's here, in a different environment and with me and her mom, protected, she's better. She's back to normal, acting goofy as always. Things are better, and getting better.”
The family started a GoFundMe page to help with expenses and Bomber fans from as far away as the U.K. have been quick to get on board.
Nearly US$2,000 had been raised by late Tuesday afternoon.
“Me and my wife definitely have noticed,” Houston said.
“I want to just say, for me and my family, we greatly appreciate the prayers, the GoFundMe and everything — we greatly appreciate it.”
At times like this, there's nothing like family. Houston feels part of a bigger one, but it's the one under his roof he appreciates the most.
“Knowing that my family is here with me now, I'm able to focus and continue to do what I love,” he said. “With the people I love.”