Mother of girl shot and wounded by arrow talks about incident
WAUWATOSA -- A seven-year-old girl playing outside her home Sunday, May 20th was shot in the back with an arrow, and is recovering at Children's Hospital in Wauwatosa. Tuesday, FOX6 News spoke with the girl's family, who said considering the extent of little Aryanna Schneeberg's injuries, she's doing as well as can be expected.
Doctors said Tuesday Aryanna is in fair condition. They were able to save all of Aryanna's organs hit by the arrow.
Laura Schneeberg says Aryanna was playing with her sister on the sidewalk near their Campbellsport home when an arrow pierced Aryanna in her back. "My oldest just started screaming. I see her arch her back really bad, and I seen something and I took off running. I seen the arrow and I screamed for Andy," Laura Schneeberg said.
Andy Raasch is Aryanna's mom's boyfriend, who said seeing the arrow sticking out of the little girl was scary.
By late Sunday evening, Aryanna was at Children's Hospital, undergoing intensive surgery. "They did exploratory surgery first, to see everything that was damaged, and it went from her back, down through her lung and her diaphragm, stomach and spleen," Laura Schneeberg said.
As of Tuesday, Aryanna was walking and talking and going to the bathroom on her own, but there's still a long recovery ahead. Aryanna's mom says the little girl will likely be in the hospital at least another week.
Overcoming the shock and anxiety will be another challenge for the girl to work through. "She's scared and confused. She doesn't know what happened," Laura Schneeberg said.
The Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department seized a bow and arrow from a man who lives nearby, but no arrests have yet been made, nor charges filed. "Obviously it was an accident. Somebody wasn't pin-pointing her, but in town, it's wrong to be shooting a bow," Laura Schneeberg said.
"There's kids out in the yard all the time. It's kinda scary. There were four girls together and the arrow hit one of them. It could have hit any of them," Andy Raasch said.
The family is asking whoever was shooting arrows in the area on Sunday to come forward. They believe this was an accident, but want to know how and why this happened.
The doctor who operated on Aryanna said he sees many wounds that penetrate the body, but most are gunshots. He said he's never dealt with an arrow before.
The doctor said because Aryanna's mom and the first responders didn't panic and pull out the arrow, her life was likely spared.
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