‘Leader and a role model.’ Pasco mom says her 14-year-old was defending a girl when shot
A Pasco middle school student, who was looking forward to spring baseball practice, is recovering at a hospital from nearly fatal gunshot wounds.
Allen McGary was shot several times Monday evening after he tried to intervene in a dispute between a teen girl and a boy, said McGary’s mother, Charvella.
One shot grazed his liver. Another traveled through the roof of his mouth. He also was hit in arm and the abdomen.
The wounded teen then ran a block from the apartment building to a shopping strip on 20th Avenue where bystanders helped him at a nearby Rite Aid and called police.
Pasco investigators know who the suspected shooter is, but have not released any information about him.
Allen, who is known by the nickname “Big Man,” must stay in the hospital while the doctors wait to determine if he has any infections from the wounds, his mom told the Herald.
After his release, he will need physical therapy and his family said in a GoFundMe campaign that he has a long road to recovery.
The money will be going to pay medical expenses, says the post at bit.ly/McGaryCampaign.
It will be a tough time for the young athlete, who was looking forward to playing football at Pasco High School.
“Football is his love,” Charvella McGary told the Herald. “The majority of the year he is doing that.”
Pasco confrontation
His mother told the Herald that he was walking home from getting dinner when he noticed another teen boy harassing a teen girl shortly before 6:20 p.m.
He stepped between them and told the boy that if he wanted a fight, he would fight him. He wasn’t expecting the other teen to pull out a gun and begin firing, she said.
“My son is not in a gang,” she said. “He is friendly with everybody and always doing the right thing. ... He is a leader and a role model.”
She was at work at the time and her husband was at the VFW post.
She never believed she would be in this situation after moving back to Pasco from Seattle. She believed he would be safe walking to McDonald’s that night. Her husband is from Chicago and also believed the Tri-Cities was safe.
“I would never believe as his mother raising him that I would be where I am today,” she said.