A benefit yard sale is planned at 8 a.m. Oct. 27 at 520 N. Weigle and will continue both Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28-29 to benefit an injured Watonga student. Cards and gifts will also be forwarded to the family and the injured student in hospital.
Chief of Police Beth Massey said there was a gun incident resulting in an injury Oct. 21 in Watonga. Very little information was available through official channels because of the age of the injured person and because the investigation continues into the matter.
However, according to social media posts by the family members, the injured student is Issac Sanders, a 15-year-old in the Watonga school system. The post indicates he was air lifted to a larger hospital in Oklahoma City where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
The incident did not occur at or near the schools. Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran and Massey both verified that, with Hilterbran expressing concern about the student. “We care about all kids and want them to be safe at all times,” he stated.
It is unclear whether the injury was accidental, inflicted by a second party, or occurred in some other fashion. However, a report on an Oklahoma City news channel indicates an acquaintance of the teen entered his girlfriend’s home while he was there visiting and fired a weapon, striking Sanders in the head.
The severe injury will have implications down the road, according to what the parents have said. Right now, they are concentrating on day-by-day progress.
“That boy is a living miracle,” his mother, Sha-Marie Huff, told the news channel. “He shouldn’t be alive. So just the fact that he’s here, we’re grateful, but he’s not out of the woods yet.”