MILWAUKEE — This year, on average in Milwaukee, there have been two non-fatal shootings per day in the city, according to police. A group supporting violence survivors wants the community to realize that means potentially two people every day whose lives are changed forever.
Even the most simple acts like getting the mail take extra time for Grover Williams. The Milwaukee man is paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot nearly 15 years ago.
"I answered the door, I got shot in the neck. It pushed me back,” said Williams.
He says before the shooting, he was not living a good life. He was involved in crime and had served time in prison.
"I brushed it off. You are in your early 20s, you think you are invincible,” said Williams.
When he was in his 30s, he was trying to live a better life for his then 4-year-old daughter, but says he didn't make the changes he should have.
"I lived the street life and it caught up with me,” said Williams.
After the shooting, he woke up in Froedtert Hospital unable to move from the bullet that tore through his body.
"It went in, went down and it severed my spine,” said Williams.
Grover is just one of the thousands of gunshot victims living in Milwaukee. This year alone, Milwaukee Police say there have been 513 gunshot victims. That is a six-percent increase from this time last year.
It is why Independence First, the non-profit that works to connect people with disabilities to resources, is highlighting nearly a dozen people, including Grover, who have become paralyzed through violence.
“We are giving survivors of violence a chance to share their stories, and our hope is this even humanizes a big issue like gun violence,” said Lorna Pecard, community outreach and special events coordinator for Independence First.
Independence First created an exhibit called Empower Gallery. Two local artists have created works of art with violence survivors. As people view the art, they can scan a QR code and get a link to a site to hear from the survivors about what they have overcome.
“We want to start a conversation about how we can support survivors of violence after the violence,” said Pecard.
“When people get shot they don't know that when you hear it on the news, that they are either dead or they got shot. But they don't talk about the things that come along with it. Some people are like myself, in a wheelchair, some people lost a limb. Just because you survived doesn't mean you aren't going to still go through it,” said Williams.
After the shooting, Grover made it his mission to rebuild his life. He says it took three years of physical therapy and dedication but he regained the use of his hands, moved out of a rehab center to live independently and raise his daughter.
He now tries to give back to others who have ended up in a wheelchair like he did through violence. But he also wants other kids out there who are like him to know, this is where they could end up.
“When you go to prison you just don't go to prison. You take your mother, your father, your kids, if you have them,” said Williams. “If I could tell the younger version of me, I would tell what my parents used to tell me, ‘Knock it off.‘“
Empower Gallary art exhibit opens at 6:30 p.m. Friday at No Studios in Milwaukee. There is more information available here. Organizers say they have now waived the $10 admission and it is now a suggested donation.
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