One Month Later, Youngest Victim Of N. Miami Mass Shooting Still Recovers
MIAMI (CBS4) - It's been one month since one of the worst mass shootings in Miami-Dade history.
Fourteen people were shot, two of them killed, on March 30th outside a North Miami Funeral home.
The youngest victim of that brutal crime is finally healing at home.
"I like to roll on the wheelchair," said McKayla Bazile, 5, while resting on the couch in her family's North Miami home.
McKayla is all smiles now, still managing to look at the bright side, even after the horror she lived through one month ago.
"I have flashbacks about it and it's just, it's horrible to have to keep replaying it over and over," said Someta Etienne, McKayla's Mother
Etienne's daughter was shot outside the Funeraria Latina Emanuel, and the images from that night continue to haunt her.
"To see your child on the floor, holding her leg, screaming, it's horrible," Etienne said.
Attendants of the funeral for 21-year-old Morvin Andre ran for cover after an argument broke out and bullets began flying.
Police sources have told CBS4 News, members of rival gangs were in attendance and took the fight outside, where they retrieved an assault rifle and a handgun from a car and opened fire on unsuspecting mourners.
McKayla was shot in the back of her left leg. She remains in a cast that covers about half her body.
"She's annoyed by it from time to time," Etienne said of her daughter's cast. "She'll tell me, 'take the cast off now'. And I'm like, 'No, the doctor has to take it out'. And she's like, 'well then you have to be a doctor.'"
Her cast will have to stay put until June 1st, just in time for summer, and McKayla can't wait to swim and play.
"Running around and playing makes me want to walk," she said.
Her mother says McKayla's been so strong, and her spirit shines through when she thinks about the people who shot her.
She said, "Maybe if I'm their friend they won't do it anymore and they'll say sorry.' So she has a heart of gold," Etienne said.
While she's grateful her little girl is still alive, McKayla's mom isn't quite as forgiving.
"They're still walking around free, still walking around like it's nothing," Etienne said. "Of course, they're not going to confess. It's sickening, honestly. It's really sickening."
Miami-Dade Police tell us they have no new leads in the case. With few witnesses willing to come forward, McKayla's parents say they'll probably never know who shot their little girl, but they add they will not live in fear.
