Update: Thug Who Shot 7-Year Old Alexis Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison

Speaking of heroes, here's a timely update to a story we blogged about in early May. A 7-year old girl had thrown herself in front of her mother as a human shield in order to prevent her mother's enraged former boyfriend from shooting her down in cold blood. The little heroine was hit by several bullets and lost an eye from saving her mother's life.

The creature who chose to fire repeatedly on the mother and child was sentenced today to 25 years in prison, and the judge was so disgusted by the vile character of the man he sentenced that he vowed to personally pay a visit to the parole board in 2033 to argue that he should remain in prison.

"I've seen a lot of evil in this building, perhaps a hundred lifetimes of it, but this one certainly takes the cake," [Judge] Allen said.

Handcuffed and surrounded by deputies in front of a Wayne County Circuit Court judge, Calvin Tillie loudly demanded Friday to be returned to jail rather than face the sentence he had agreed to for shooting a little girl seven times at point blank range when she tried to protect her mother.
"I'm ready to go back to the bullpen. I done spoke my mind and my piece. I don't have nothing more to say," the muscularly-built prisoner in a green jail uniform announced. "Take me back, now. Now!"

After the small demonstration of rage that prosecutors say has fueled Tillie through 15 years of violent criminal behavior, deputies led Tillie, 29, away and Judge David J. Allen issued a rare sentence in absentia.

"He has proven himself as someone who shouldn't be walking among us," Allen said after ordering Tillie to prison for at least 25 years and up to 60.
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Tillie's victim, Alexis Goggins, turns 8 later this month. The pain from her wounds has mostly passed. She still suffers complications and occasional hospitalizations. An artificial eye has replaced her right eye that one of Tillie's bullets destroyed. There still is talk about the need for surgery to replace missing bone from the left side of the girl's skull.
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It's simply amazing how children can seem to possess such remarkable resilience in the face of daunting challenges, revealing themselves to be not so fragile as we may be tempted to believe. In some ways young people are just not that different from older people: when much is asked, and for a worthy enough cause, then much may be given. It's comforting to know that if we, as adults, should waver in our commitments to carrying the crosses we each have to bear, there exist inspiring examples such as Alexis to teach us what it means to have inner strength:

Psychologically, Alexis has moved on in a way her mother hasn't.
"She's doing fine, wonderful in fact. Better than I ever thought. She's the same wonderful little girl," said [Alexis' mother, Seliethia Parker] ...

Mementos from the recovery are displayed in Parker's china cabinet. Members of the Detroit Pistons visited Alexis in the hospital. She was hailed a hero by the Detroit Police and a church. ...
"We did 'Good Morning America' and a lot of interviews for newspapers and television," Parker said. "A man in the Army sent her one of his medals for bravery." ...

...[A]s long she is well, I am well. I have to live with this. I just wish he was getting life for trying to take my pride and joy from me. She is my little hero."

And mine.

[Go here to see Alexis' appearance on Good Morning America]

Alexis, The 7-Year Old Teacher

"Using her tiny body as a shield, Alexis blocked six gunshots from hitting her mother."

One of the differences separating an adult from a child is experience: the adult, being older, has accumulated more experience at living than the child.

That's not exactly news, I know, but every once in a while a story comes along like this one out of Detroit, reminding me that with age comes a shift in perspective, and if we're not careful we can lose as much as we gain from that change.

This magnificient child is only 7 years old, yet she's able to display a heartfelt appreciation for the treasured blessings filling her world, her sense of gratitude inspiring this remarkable young lady to exemplify a value for life itself that tends to take us older folks far too many years of learning from experience to acquire on our own.

Alexis cried, "Don't hurt my mother!" and jumped into her mother's arms from the back seat.

The old seem forever at odds with the young. There's a natural conflict built into this natural relationship, the conservatism of the old clashing with the rebelliousness of youth. The inexperienced young, in their vanity, can too easily foresake the value of experience itself: "You don't know what it's like", the young will swear to their elders, "you're too old, things are different now".

The old, in their vanity, respond in turn, "What do you know, you're too young". Facing each other across their opposite ends of this chasm, both sides shout in chorus the same accusation: "What do I have to learn from you??"

Hidden within this generational conflict is the simple truth that for either to change, there must be a challenge to their ideas. Through this natural conflict, each generation helps the other, the young testing the old to define in sufficient clarity the ongoing usefulness of the wisdom derived from their experiences, the old testing the young by serving up time-tested standards and expectations for them to reach in their turn.

This Detroit story of heroism in the midst of horror can remind us all to humble ourselves sufficiently so that we can be in a position to learn from anyone, even seven-year old teachers like the remarkable Alexis Goggins.

Seliethia Parker always saw her role as protector for her 7-year-old daughter, Alexis Goggins. But it was Alexis who ended up saving her mother's life by using her little body to shield her mom from a fusillade of bullets.

Doctors told Parker that her heroic little daughter, who was shot six times, would never walk or talk again.

But Alexis has surprised people with her gritty toughness. She's not only walking and talking, she's expected to have a full recovery.

"Everybody's still kind of shocked. This is progressing a little bit more than everybody expected," Parker said on "Good Morning America" today. "They said she should fully recover." Alexis was shot last December when she and her mother were about to get into a car driven by Parker's female friend. Parker's former boyfriend, 29-year-old Calvin Tillie, jumped out of nearby bushes and forced his way into the car.
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Parker pleaded desperately with Tillie not to harm her or her daughter, but to no avail.

"Me and Alexis was left in the car with him at gunpoint and he starting shooting," Parker told GMA. Fearing for her mother's life, Alexis bolted into the car's front seat, crying out, "Don't hurt my mother."

"Alexis jumped over the seat to try and save my life," Parker said.

Using her tiny body as a shield, Alexis blocked six gunshots from hitting her mother. The bullets pierced her right eye, chin, cheek, chest and jaw. When police arrived to the scene, they found Alexis in a pool of blood, curled beneath the steering wheel.
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Alexis said she doesn't consider herself a hero and said she wasn't scared during the event.

"I saved my mom," she said and added she loved her mother a lot and didn't want to see her get hurt.

Parker has endless gratitude for her selfless daughter.

"She's my angel and I love her to death," she said.

Is there any real love without gratitude? Is there ever any true growth without humility? Can there ever be a student, without a teacher? These are all opposites, yet they are still connected, still dependant one upon the other.

To deny ourselves the one, is to limit ourselves with the other.

Alexis is a pretty good teacher, and there seems to be quite a few students around the world learning from her lesson... not the least of which is her own teacher: her mother.

Since the attack, Alexis and her family have received more than 200 letters from well-wishers, some from as far away as London. Supporters have also contributed $30,000 to a fund set up for Alexis through her school.
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Parker says her daughter is a living miracle.

"I'm thanking God every day that me and my baby are still here," she said. "It has taught me to ... appreciate the smaller things in life."

[Hat Tip to I See A Light, A Bright Light ]