This GoFundMe has raised over $39,000 for a veteran injured in Charlotte’s protests
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On the second night of the protests following the shooting of Keith Scott, David Palmer found himself near the EpiCentre when he was separated from his group.
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When he tried to get home, he was jumped by 10 men who took his phone and caused serious injuries.
This is not the individual whose assault was caught on camera that you may have heard about. That was Mitchell Barnes, a 24-year-old in the finance industry.
Palmer’s injuries have taken him to three different doctors and have him on the operating table for the first round of surgery today, according to a GoFundMe page.
Along with multiple bones in his face being broken, his eye socket was also fractured in the attack.
“The specialists told us to imagine dropping a dinner plate from above your head…” Ashley Brooke Warlick, Palmer’s sister, wrote on the recently launched GoFundMe page. “‘That’s what the inside of your face looks like right now.'”
Beyond bodily injuries, Warlick is overwhelmed by the mental toll the attack will take on Palmer: for the first time in seven years, he’s a civilian.
After serving for seven years in the Army, both at home and overseas, Palmer came home. Adjusting to civilian life wasn’t something that came easily, so he took a job as a barback at a local bar. The money he earned would hold him over until he started school come spring.
But now, he’s out of work and can’t pay his bills, so Warlick set up a GoFundMe on September 29 that went viral overnight. In four days, the page has been shared over 8,000 times and over 1,000 people have raised over $39,000 for Palmer’s recovery.
Warlick says she’s “completely in awe” of the support that has come their way.
“It’s amazing how much support and love has been shown from fellow military brothers, to people still overseas at this very moment, to people and family we’ve never even met and old grade school friends!” she wrote in an update yesterday. “Our family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts for reaching out.”