10-year-old girl shot while shielding young relatives in car seats receives medal for heroism

LAS VEGAS -- (WPIX) -- Officials honored a 10-year-old Nevada girl who was struck by a bullet while she shielded her baby brother and cousin when gunfire rang out in a Walmart parking lot.

Aaliyah Inghram was with her mother, 18-month-old brother and 15-month-old cousin in a Walmart parking lot on May 8 when two men started shooting at each other.

“My first reaction was to get out, her's was to jump on her baby brother,” Aaliyah's mother Samantha Tygret told KVVU. “She jumped on his car seat when I told her to get on the ground. If she hadn't done that a bullet would have hit him in the midsection.”

The 10-year-old threw herself over the two car seats her brother and cousin were sitting in and was struck in the back by a bullet.

On Tuesday, Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly honored Aaliyah and declared June 5 “Aaliyah Ingraham Day.” Aaliyah was given a medal for heroism.

“She literally took a bullet for her brother. I can never repay her for what she did,” Tygret said.