Coming Together For Tara Post Falls Benefit First Of Several For Woman Injured By Gunshot

Strangers offered her hugs, encouragement and flowers.

Despite a barbecue dinner, a flashy band and the hope of winning a diamond ring, the focus was on Tara LaCelle Friday night.

LaCelle was injured July 7 when a bullet fired from her neighbor’s apartment hit her as she slept in her bed. The 20-year-old is recovering from injuries caused by the stray bullet that entered her right shoulder, broke three ribs, punctured her lungs and came to rest near her spinal chord.

She left her room at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane to join in a benefit concert dedicated to her. A crowd welcomed her as she sat in her wheelchair.

“It’s just amazing,” LaCelle said. “I’ve never seen a community come together like this.”

More than 400 people bought tickets to the first of several benefits for LaCelle. Hosted by the city of Post Falls, the Lions Club and the Hot Rod Cafe, all of the money made from the event will go to LaCelle’s medical costs.

The pavilion at Q’emiln Park packed in a crowd ready to eat hamburgers, put in a bid at the silent auction and listen to the sounds of Britches Malone and His Fabulous Big Band. A couch, picnic tables and handmade afghans sat on tables as benefit-goers bid on the donated goods.

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson donated the recently confiscated press credentials held by undercover FBI and ATF officials, used during this week’s Aryan Nations civil trial in Coeur d’Alene. The minimum bid for them was $2.

“It’s great,” said Frances Simmonds, a Spokane resident who works in Post Falls, as she finished her dinner.

Simmonds bid on a barbecue grill and bought some raffle tickets for a 1.2-carat diamond ring.

“It’s neat,” said Simmonds’ co-worker Bob Yarnell. “I wish it could happen for more people who needed it.”

The community has come together to help LaCelle pay for her hospital costs. LaCelle has received 200 cards from people as far away as Montana wishing her well during her recovery. They now decorate her hospital room. While she was at Kootenai Medical Center, more than 60 bouquets of flowers and plants were sent to her room.

“Amazing is the only word I can come up with,” said Post Falls Mayor Gus Johnson, who sold raffle tickets Friday evening. “I’m just proud Post Falls is doing it.”

“It’s incredible,” LaCelle said. “I don’t know how to thank everybody.”

Doctors don’t know when, or if, LaCelle will walk again. She has a stronger chance than she would if the bullet had punctured her spinal cord, she said. In the meantime, she’s been building up her upper body strength to learn how to manage without the use of her legs.

“They say I’m really lucky,” she said. “I’m so glad I’m not dead.”

Kootenai County prosecutors have charged LaCelle’s neighbor, Shatana Pole, 22, with aggravated assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm at a home and aggravated battery.

After an evening of drinking with friends, Pole allegedly fired a gunshot into a wall of his apartment, hitting LaCelle. A continuation of a preliminary hearing for Pole is scheduled for Oct. 12. Then a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence for Pole to stand trial.

“I think it was ridiculous that they were up at 3:30 in the morning, drunk, and messing with a gun,” LaCelle said of the neighbors she didn’t know very well.

LaCelle said she didn’t feel the bullet enter her body, but she woke up because she was feeling funny.

Asked about what she thinks of guns: “I hate them,” she said. “I know the consequences of them.”