HENRY COUNTY — A Henry County mother says her daughter came into this world early and left it way too soon.
Doctors say 1-year-old Leilani died from cardiac arrest not long after her father shot at her and her mother. Thankfully, neither Leilani or her mother, Angenita Harris, were hit by the bullets.
Marcus Calhoun, 25, has not been charged in connection to Leilani’s death. He has been charged with stalking and trying to shoot Harris and Leilani in a park in Henry County.
Police say Calhoun fired five shots into Harris’ car as she sped away from him in August.
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Harris says the bullets he fired didn’t kill their daughter, but she believes the gunpowder did.
Leilani was born four months early and had severe bleeding on both sides of her brain and had three different lung diseases.
“For a baby who went through everything she went through, she was a joy to be around,” Harris told Channel 2′s Tom Jones. “She’s a little miracle.”
The toddler recently celebrated her first birthday and was showing significant improvements.
Harris told Jones that while she and Leilani were at Avalon Park, her estranged husband, Calhoun, jumped into the car with them and demanded to know why she left him before grabbing the gun she kept in the glove compartment and opening fire.
Neither was hurt and Calhoun was arrested days later in Columbus, Georgia.
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Less than a month later, on September 2, Harris says she started to suspect something was wrong with Leilani.
“At that moment, we knew she was about to leave,” Harris said.
Leilani died later that night from cardiac arrest.
“No one can tell me otherwise. That gunpowder affected her lungs. It affected her, caused her lungs to fail,” Harris said.
Harris says Leilani was fine before the shooting and wants Calhoun to pay.
“I want him to rot in jail. I want him to sit in that jail for the rest of his natural born life,” she said.
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Calhoun is currently being held in the Henry County Jail.
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