It's Not Supposed To Happen Here

Lance Stevens was standing outside his home in his calm Indianapolis neighborhood with his mother, Kim Tillman, as she dropped off the two young grandkids from a weekend at her house, when a stranger with a gun changed their lives in an instant.  

Lance was shot in the leg and another bullet grazed the side of his head, while his mother received the brunt of the gunfire: she was shot in the chest and armpit, and her arm and cheekbone were shattered. 

After decades of decline, gun violence has spiked since the pandemic. Experts told Into America that in Indianapolis, the demographics of victims are shifting, and survivors are becoming more likely to be older people and women, like Kim Tillman. It’s also creeping into neighborhoods like Northwest Indianapolis that are usually untouched. 

Most of the nation’s attention on gun violence is focused on mass shootings and homicides, but the vast majority of people who are shot survive. And like Kim and Lance, who were among the nearly 750 Indianapolis residents who were wounded by gun violence in 2021, these survivors not only must heal their physical wounds, but face a number of challenges and unexpected hurdles – from healthcare costs, damage to property, and navigating victim compensation funds – as the family tries to heal.

A little over a year later after the shooting, host Trymaine Lee visited Lance and his wife Sophia Stevens, and grandma Kim Tillman at the Stevens’ home in Indianapolis, to talk about recovery, acceptance, and moving forward after tragedy.

For a transcript, please visit msnbc.com/intoamerica. 

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Further Listening: 

• Space to Grieve
• Hate and Heartbreak in Buffalo