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SHOT KILLS A 'PRINCESS'
Girl, 9, was wrestling champion
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, August 25, 2006
By Kim Crawford, Bryn Mickle and Robert Snell
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS
FLINT - Victoria Taylor was unbeatable on the wrestling mat.
The only girl among 46 boys on her wrestling club, 9-year-old Victoria had a room full of trophies and two national championships to her name.
"She had more energy than I've ever seen in any little girl," said coach Kevin Lovell.
That energy disappeared in the roar of a shotgun blast Thursday morning inside Victoria's home at the corner of W. Home Avenue and Baldwin Boulevard on the city's north side.
The Gundry Elementary fourth-grader was shot and killed in the home about 11:30 a.m.
It is not clear who shot Victoria with the shotgun bought this summer after two break-ins at the home.
Her 10-year-old brother and their 10-year-old wrestling teammate also were in the home.
"Ten more days was all we needed," said her uncle, James Bard. "Then she would have been in school and this wouldn't have happened."
The shotgun had been purchased this summer after the Taylors' house was burglarized twice - once by a man who climbed through the window in the middle of the day, said another uncle, Marc Bard.
"That's why they had the gun," said Marc Bard.
Police late Thursday night would only confirm Victoria's name and age and that she had been shot to death. They said a male juvenile was detained and later released pending further investigation.
Mayor Don Williamson and 1st Ward Councilman Darryl E. Buchanan, who represents that area, hurried to the scene when they heard about the shooting Thursday and were given a quick briefing by police.
"I called my daughter," Buchanan said, "and told her to hug her children."
A young boy in blue shorts, who relatives said was Victoria's brother, was led away from the scene just after noon, crying, to a Flint police vehicle as relatives and on-lookers cried or looked on with grim faces. He was taken down to police headquarters to be interviewed.
As the terrible news spread by cellphone from relatives at the scene, other family members arrived. One woman cried "No, no, no" and "Oh, my God." Another of Victoria's relatives jumped from his car and ran up to the scene shouting, "Tell me she's just hurt, she's just hurt."
As they tried to console each other, one person could be heard trying to assure a crying woman: "It's going to be all right."
But she replied through her tears, "It's never going to be all right."
An A student who also excelled at track and basketball, Victoria started wrestling when she was 4.
"Her dad was a wrestler, so he taught his son about the sport. But Victoria saw her brother in it, saw that you could win trophies and prizes and she wanted to be in it, too," said Marc Bard.
Even though Victoria was her father's little "Princess," family members said David Taylor taught her to wrestle.
Soon, she and her brother were wrestling together on the Westwood Heights Battle Cats, where Victoria earned a reputation for hard work.
Her signature hello was a punch in the gut.
"I'm 220 pounds and she would say, 'Come on, let's go,'" said Lovell, 40, of Goodrich.
The 80-pounder with two long ponytails was a two-time national champion who in April won her weight class at the United States Girls Wrestling Association national championships in Lake Orion.
"She would have been a high-school All-American if she'd have stuck with it," said Kent Bailo, 56, founder of the USGWA. "She stuck out because she's cute as a button and physically chiseled for a kid that age. Oh God, what can you say?"
She also held at least one state championship - earned by beating the boys - and was a fixture at meets flanked by her parents.
"The girl was unbeatable " so full of life," Lovell said. "Unbelievable, just unbelievable."
Relatives said her death is the second child the Taylors have lost. One of Victoria's siblings died of spinal meningitis in 1994.
Cousin Stanley Dulaney fought back tears as he talked about Victoria.
"She was a true princess," he said.
James Bard agreed.
"This little girl had so much to give," Bard said. "She was impressive."
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9 year old accidentally shot in FlintGirl was killed near Gundry Elementary School
Josh DeVine, Bisi Onile-Ere and Cathy Shafran
FLINT (WJRT) - (08/24/06)--
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There was shock and outrage in Flint Thursday afternoon. An accidental shooting claimed the life of a 9-year-old girl.
It all happened just before noon at a home at the intersection of Baldwin Boulevard and Home Avenue on Flint's north side just feet from Gundry Elementary School.
Police have yet to release a lot of specifics about the shooting. Here's what we've learned from family members gathered at the home: The shooting happened just after 11:30 a.m.
It's not clear who shot the girl. Family members say it could have been her 11-year-old brother or her brother's friend. We do know the family didn't own the gun very long.
Apparently the father only bought one earlier this summer after a break-in. Police took the parents and the brother of the little girl to the police department.
Family members on scene identified the victim. She is 9-year-old Victoria Taylor. The straight-A student nicknamed "Princess" was a student at Gundry Elementary.
As the only girl on the 47-member Westwood Heights Battlecats Wrestling Club, she was also a two-time national champion in the sport of wrestling.
Detectives have yet to return to the scene. It is unclear if charges will apply. Family members say the parents were away at work at the time of the shooting.
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