
The scene of the shooting. Photo via Polk County Sheriff's Office
After she was shot multiple times, Aubry Gleason told her family, "I played dead and I prayed."
Now, her family is asking the community for support after the 11-year-old was shot in her Lakeland home along with four family members who were killed on Sunday.
- Her father was among those killed by a man police said had no connection to the family.
- Both sides of Aubry's family have posted GoFundMe campaigns, one for funeral costs and the other for her medical bills and family expenses.
- Family members confirmed Aubry's identity to Axios. Police did not release her name or the names of other family members who were killed, citing Marsy's Law.
What's next: Aubry, a student at Lake Gibson Middle School, was taken to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition, but her family told Axios she is stabilized and recovering.
- Members of her family posted that Aubry has a broken leg and 11 gunshot wounds, mostly below the waist.
- She's had four surgeries and is receiving blood transfusions, relative Daylon Patterson posted in the family's GoFundMe.
- Aubry will need to stay in the hospital for several months, but she is awake and is able to talk, read and write, Fox 13 reports.
"Even through this tragedy, somehow this little girl still manages to smile. She does find herself questioning what happened at times. She also finds herself breaking down at the reality that her father is gone. She doesn’t understand how any of this can happen or even why it happened and I’m not sure any of us will ever know the answers."— Aubry's family member, via a GoFundMe update
The bottom line: Patterson posted that Aubry wants the world to know "how much [she is] going to miss the best daddy in the world."

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