BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — On Saturday afternoon, Zeneta Everhart got the phone call that's every mother's nightmare. The Buffalo mom picked up a call from her 20-year-old son who was working at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue.
"He said mom - get here right now. Get here right now. I got shot," she said.
Zeneta's son, Zaire Goodman, was helping a customer in the parking lot when he saw the shooter.
"Out of the corner of his eye he looked - he saw the man get out of his car. Out of a blue car. Full army gear, his head was covered, his face was covered. And Zaire said he saw the gun. He pointed the gun right at him and shot him. Zaire said he fell, and the woman he was helping, the man shot her in front of him," Zeneta explained.
Zaire was shot in the neck. The bullet went straight through his body and out his back - but he was alive. When the shooter went in the store, he was able to get up and run away to call his mom. He was taken to the hospital and released that same day. Zaire didn't have surgery. In fact, his mom says he didn't even need a stitch. She believes it was divine intervention that saved her son that day.
As her family moves forward through this horrible tragedy, Zeneta says she has a message for other parents - specifically other moms.
"My message to moms is - continue to love on your kids. Love on them. Racism is real and it hurts people, and these outcomes are what come out of racism. We have to teach our children about racism. About the hate in the country. We have to talk about it. And we have to talk about it at the dinner table with our kids," she said.
