Terrell Williams was convinced that every shallow breath he took would be his final, as he lay bleeding on concrete. “damn, my life’s over already.”At the time, he was 21 years old. He couldn’t believe that his life was just beginning.
He had been on his way to his brother’s house in what many would consider the rougher side of Louisville, Kentucky, when he stopped at a convenience store to pick up chips and soda. Williams left his car in the garage and while he was on his way to his brother’s house, he noticed a man who tried to take his car.
After a violent exchange of gunfire, and the wrecking of his car, Williams was left motionless outside the shop, watching the dimming world around him. Bullets had pierced his neck, chest and spine – a fate nobody survives, he believed.
What Williams didn’t know at the time was that his story wouldn’t end there. He would survive, though paralysed from his waist down from the bullet to the spine that killed him, and he would continue his life.
Williams claims that this moment is in many ways when his life began. “I wasn’t into anything bad, but I was just kind of existing, moving through the daily motions,”He elaborated. “Now, it’s totally different than what I could have imagined.”
Terrell Williams’ Day One: How it Began for Terrell Williams.
Williams, like many others who have experienced life-altering experiences, recalled that the March 2017 beginning was just like any other. “It was around the first day of spring – the first good day of spring, bright blue skies, no clouds,”He stated. “It was a normal work day, everything was smooth, I actually finished up a little early, I was getting off around 3 o’clock.”
He had planned to meet his brother but decided to instead go to Shawnee to see his family. Shawnee is a western Louisville neighborhood that has a high rate of crime per head.
According to a 2016 census, Shawnee sees nearly 1,200 violent crimes per 100,000 people – a rate almost twice as high as all of Louisville, which sees about 600 violent crimes per 100,000 people.
Shawnee has a median household income of half that of Louisville. The median assessed value for a home in Shawnee is just above $40,000. This is less than one third the value of Louisville, which has a median assessed value just below $140,000, according census data. Eighty-five% of Shawnee residents identify themselves as Black.
Williams was only around the corner from this brother’s house when he stopped at the convenience store F&H Food Mart. He intended to stop at the F&H Food Mart for a few minutes and pick up chips and drinks, but he decided to leave his car running.
As he came back to his car, he noticed someone sitting in the driver’s seat. “My windshield wipers were moving back and forth,”Williams stated.
Williams reached for his gun – which he was legally permitted to have, he said, noting that many in the neighborhood carried firearms– and aimed at the car. Before he could fire his shot, however, a bullet punctured his chest.
“What I never noticed was he had other people across the street looking out,”Williams stated. “So as soon as they saw my gun, they started shooting.”
He was struck by another bullet, and fell to his death. “I jumped into survival mode. I picked up my gun and started shooting at the only target I saw, which was my car,”He stated.
Williams tried to stand up but couldn’t. He reached for the legs, but they felt like heavy water bags. He would find out later that one of the bullets he received pierced his spine. This instantly paralyzed the man from the waist down.
Williams watched helplessly as his car crash into a nearby telephone pole before its driver exited the car and began shooting at Williams. “He didn’t want my car anymore, he just wanted to kill me,”He stated. “I literally see the concrete sparks flying, I knew it was a matter of time (before being shot again).”
The bullet struck him again in the head. Later, he discovered that the bullet had passed through his dreadlocks and hit the pavement before hitting his head.
“I played dead. Didn’t move,”He stated that he believed this was the only way to stop him from shooting again at him. “I waited and waited, and then something clicked. (I thought) ‘You need to pray because you’re about to die.’”
He prayed to God for protection and care during what he believed were his final moments.
The Fight for Survival Begin
Williams opened his eyes after the gunfire had stopped. Williams’ shooter was gone by that point. His attempted murder has never been solved.
Williams looked around after realizing he hadn’t been shot dead and saw people from the neighborhood coming to his side. “They were kind of surrounding me, like I was food on the ground and they were ants,”He said: “No one could do anything except help me make my last phone call.”
One woman helped Williams call the brother, who rushed to be by his side.
“Not even a minute later, I see my brother running up the street. He bust through the crowd and I see his face,”He stated. “He was surprisingly calm. ‘You good, brother. You gonna make it.’ He was saying words to reassure me that I was going to be OK.’”
Williams laughed as he recalled his brother’s reaction. “Even then, in my mind, I was like, ‘Yeah, you don’t know what you were talking about but thank you, I guess. But I don’t know about that,’”He stated. “We talked about it since and he told me that he was discombobulated. He was distraught and everything at that moment.”
Williams believed that he would soon take his last breath even though an ambulance was on the way. “Bullet to the chest, bullet to the neck, nobody survives that,”He stated. “Some people don’t even survive one, so there’s no way I’m going to survive this.”
He started to lose consciousness. “Everything started getting black, and I started fading out,”He stated. “I told them, I remember clearly, ‘I think I’m about to go, y’all. I think I’m about to go.’”
He felt his life return to him not even a moment later. After one of the bullets caused his lung to burst, he was rushed to hospital. First responders placed a chest tube and he was revived. “It shot the blood out and I got that air back,”Williams stated. “I remember taking the deepest breath in my life.”
Terrell Williams Joins A Club No One Wants To Be Part Of
Williams found out later that he was paralyzed. At first, he didn’t accept his diagnosis. “I was in denial,”He stated. “You go from doing something for 21 years, running, walking, jumping, doing all of this stuff. And then in a matter of seconds, it’s just all taken away.”
But he soon began getting to know other people who used wheelchairs, which opened up to him a world of possibility and a support system. “Without them, none of this would be possible. Going through an injury like this, you can’t do it by yourself,”Williams stated.
Kaelin Hall was a part of this support system. Although Williams and Hall met while Williams was undergoing physical rehabilitation therapy, their meeting actually took place after another tragedy that resulted from gun violence. “The first time I met Kaelin … it was actually at my cousin’s funeral. My cousin got shot and killed, and I see another guy rolling in in a wheelchair,”Williams stated. “I wondered if he got shot.”
Williams thinks of this first thing when he meets another Black man in a wheelchair. “Any Black male in a wheelchair. The first thought is: I wonder if he got shot, too… It shows the damage gun violence really has on our community.”
Gun violence has a significant impact on Black Americans. Black Americans are affected by gun violence at a 10x higher rate than white Americans. They also suffer 18 times more gun assault injuries and almost three times as many fatal shootings by police officers.Everytown for Gun SafetyA non-profit organization, which advocates for gun control. And a review of 2020 gun deaths in the U.S. conducted byThe Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions Researchers found that Black Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 have the highest gun homicide rates among all demographics.
Williams was correct to conclude that Hall had been paralysed by gun violence. “I was in the streets. I pretty much signed up for what came to me, you know?”Hall spoke of his paralysis. “I didn’t want to be in the streets no more, but at the same time, it was my normal and I didn’t see no problem with it.”
After his injury, he too leaned on support groups. “Everybody in this group, we have the same story. We lost friends. I lost my mother a year later,”He stated.
Hall’s daughter was 3 when she watched him get shot. “I knew I let my daughter down and I needed to rebuild our bond by doing the right things in my life. I owed so many people that believed in me,”He stated.
Hall incorporates this mantra into his daily life to support those who walk in his shoes and seek a life that is not dominated by violence. “I want young dudes to know that it’s not worth it,”He stated. “The streets don’t love you. Even if you love them, the streets don’t love you.”
Another source of support for Williams was Whitney Austin, who he met while sharing his story at a University of Louisville trauma survivor’s event. After surviving the 2018 Cincinnati mass shooting, Austin was just starting to work on Whitney/Strong, a gun violence reduction organization.
“We experienced two different kinds of gun violence – hers, mass shooting; mine, I guess you can call it street violence,”Williams stated. “It was amazing that we still experienced a lot of the same feelings and so we connected on the level that only gunshot survivors can connect on.”
Terrell Williams Starts His New Life
Williams began working with Whitney/Strong to give back to his community and address gun violence with youth growing up in areas similar to Shawnee.
“I grew in this neighborhood. These are the neighborhoods where I grew up. I’ve seen gun violence and it’s normalized. While it’s normalized to me, it shouldn’t be,”Williams stated. “I can use my voice, because even though I lost my physical abilities, one thing I didn’t lose is my voice.”
Today, Williams is the director of community outreach for Whitney/Strong as well as a member of its board.
One of the responsibilities of that position entails is hosting conversations with at-risk youth, like an event he and the Whitney/Strong team held at the Cabbage Patch Settlement House in Louisville in May. For about an hour, he spoke with a small group of teenagers who seemed all too familiar with guns, and answered questions – some serious, some silly and some concerning.
In sharing his unfiltered experience in growing up in neighborhoods that see significant street violence, Williams forged a special connection with his teen audience. “I can empathize and sympathize with them,” he explained.
Williams is also now on his way to earning his master’s degree.
“Before I got shot, I tried to go to college a year after graduating from high school,” Williams said. “It did not work out at all. It just was not for me. School was not for me and I knew I would never go back.”
Williams decided to re-enroll months after the shooting. Last spring, he completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Louisville and he is now attending North Carolina State University to obtain his master’s in accounting.
“I just never thought I’d be doing any of the things that I’m doing,”Williams stated. “[The shooting] was the most unfortunate fortunate thing that happened to me, but if it had not happened, I wouldn’t be me.”