News
Community To Raise Funds For Shooting Victim
By: Susan Tebben
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After a shooting left a local man with debilitating injuries, the community is coming together to raise funds to help with his recovery.
Events in Athens and Glouster have been planned for Alex Andrews, an Athens resident who was shot through his kitchen window on Brown Avenue on Jan. 19, and was hospitalized at St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington for nearly a week.
Andrews had injuries to his face, neck, chest and abdomen. Police say he was shot with a shotgun loaded with buckshot.
No suspects have been identified in the shooting, and Athens Police Department officials say the case is still under investigation.
Andrews was able to talk to investigators after the shooting occurred, but his mother, Terri Jean, told WOUB he didn’t know who would have done it.
“I first must say that I had no real indication that I had any reason to be held in ill will for any other, especially on a scale that would result in me having to fight my own dying body with a relentless spirit and will to live,” Andrews wrote in a recent post on his Facebook page.
Andrews was transferred to a specialized surgeon because his eye was severely damaged in the shooting.
“Alex is now blind in his left eye,” Terri Jean said in an update on Facebook. “At this time it will not be removed, which is why he was transported to a specialist, but it could still be necessary in the future.”
Andrews is the owner of Thunderbunny Tattoo Studio in Athens, and his mother said the artist will need to retrain his eye to continue his work.
But the bills for surgeries, Intensive Care Unit stays and work needed to retrain his eye will be “ridiculously high,” as Terri Jean put it, so fundraisers are planned for Feb. 1 and Feb. 8.
Sikorski’s Home Plate on Madison Street in Glouster will host a fundraiser on Feb. 1 from 8 p.m. to midnight. Donations will be accepted at the door and a raffle is planned.
A dinner and raffle to benefit Andrews will also be held at the Athens Texas Roadhouse on Feb. 8 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Flyers about the event are available at Thunder Bunny, Silver Serpent Exotic Gifts and other Court Street locations. Ten percent of the total purchase at Texas Roadhouse will go to Andrews and a raffle will be held during the dinner to benefit Andrews’ recovery.
The flyer is needed to make sure the money goes to Andrews’ fundraiser. A digital flyer will be released as well, according to an event page on Facebook.
Donations can also be made to the “Alex Andrews Benefit Fund” at People’s Bank in Athens, and to a GoFundMe page that was created by Terri Jean.
While Andrews has a long road to recovery, he told supporters that he doesn’t hold a grudge against whoever shot him.
“The lesson hopefully learned by the one in the shadows for me starts with this…I forgive you,” Andrews wrote on his Facebook page. “I don’t understand your choices, but I understand what life must be like for you being able to do what you have done to me.”