A recent high school graduate may not be able to speak ever again after she was caught in the crossfire during a Minneapolis gunfight.
Mykia Carpenter is a recent graduate of North High School where she earned straight As, played basketball and volleyball and was on the cheer squad. She was slated to attend college in Chicago this fall to become a nurse until her life likely changed forever on Aug. 25 when she was shot in the throat.
Now, she may never regain use of her vocal cords and is left to communicate with her family via a dry erase whiteboard.
Mykia was struck by a bullet as she left work around midnight on the 3000 block of Lyndale Avenue South, according to police. Six other people were also injured but none died. Authorities believe all casualties were collateral damage resulting from a gun battle between two people.
The young woman was transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center after the incident where she underwent a nine-hour surgery on the arteries in her neck, trachea and vocal cords.
Doctors say she will require several more operations in the near future and that long-term use of a tracheal tube and permanent destruction of her voice are not off the table, according to a GoFundMe set up to offset Mykia’s medical expenses.
The GoFundMe is administered by Mykia’s mentor with approval from her family. Thus far, the fund has generated over $53,000 — $10,380 of which came from an anonymous donor identified only as “Side Chick.”
Sadly, Mykia’s story is not unique. Two children have been killed by stray bullets as gang violence explodes across the Twin Cities. Since the George Floyd riots, Minneapolis has experienced one of the largest homicide increases in the nation as police are defunded and criminals are empowered.
Meanwhile, alternative means of law enforcement that don’t involve cops continue to enamor Minneapolis and its residents. Unarmed, unbadged “violence interrupters” patrol metro stations, businesses use “peace activists” in place of police to apprehend thieves and the city will allow its citizens to vote to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department altogether on Nov. 2.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
