A GoFundMe account has been set up for the 18-year-old Dutchtown High School senior who was shot during an attempted robbery after the Jonesboro-Mount Zion football game Aug. 18 at Tara Stadium.
The fund-raising goal is $300,000, which will go toward his rehabilitation at The Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
According to the information on the GoFundMe page, Thomas has been playing basketball since he was 12-years old and has aspirations to be a college basketball player while studying to become a software engineer.
“I am asking for your help because on Aug. 18, 2023 my life was altered forever,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page. “On that day, I went to a high school football game and was shot. I did not ask to be shot and I did not entice this violent crime on myself. One of the bullets severed my spinal cord and is lodged in my spine.”
According to WSB-TV, Thomas was shot three times and his mother, Tyiesha Bussie, told WSB that “the doctors are saying he really doesn’t have a chance of walking right now.”
She also told WSB that Thomas was shot as he was waiting for an Uber with his younger brother, who witnessed the shooting. She said he was shot once in the shoulder, once in the lung, and once in the spine.
On Aug. 22, the Clayton County School System announced it is enhancing security at all athletic events.
Security measures include:
— As a precaution, all spectators attending games at each stadium will continue to enter the facility through body scanners, weapon detection devices, and/or metal detectors. Bag searches will occur if necessary.
— The district does not allow tailgating nor loitering in stadium parking lots or on school district property.
— Safety and Security personnel will be conducting roving security checks in the parking lots of all stadiums pre-game, during the game, and post-game.
The Clayton County Public Schools’…
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