Man who shot girl, 3, thanks her for forgiveness

April 30, 2008 01:50 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Kai Leigh Harriott, a smiley 7-year-old with her hair in pig tails, watched the video screen from her wheelchair today as the man who shot her said thank you.

Anthony Warren thanked Kai for publicly forgiving him for accidentally shooting her as a 3-year-old as she sat on her porch in the summer of 2003. He said that act of reconciliation has given him strength to improve himself at the Old Colony Correctional Center, where he is serving a 13 to 15 year sentence.

(George Rizer/Globe Staff)

"To be blessed with the opportunity to be forgiven by a beautiful person like Kai, it made me want to change," Warren said on the video as he sat on a wooden bench in the prison chapel. "It made me want to be less colder and harder. It made me really want to take a look at myself and take a look at my duties and responsibilities as black man in my community."

Warren has was one of nine inmates interviewed for a video that organizers hope will deter young people from crime by showing the hard truth about life in prison. The entire video, “Voices from Behind the Wall,” will debut next month at a youth peace conference. Organizers played the short clip today of Warren at a community center in Dorchester at a press conference that designated May as “Peace Month.”

Kai sat in the front row with her mother, Tonya David, and her wide eyes on the screen as a crush of more than two dozen media cameras recorded her reaction.

“She gave me a second chance to really make a difference to show people out there that forgiveness is good,” Warren said.

He took a deep breath and leaned in, looking directly into the camera.

“I want to thank Kai,” Warren said. “I want to thank her mother. I want to thank her family. I want to apologize to my community. I just appreciate the opportunity ... that’s she’s given me.”

The video ended and reporters surrounded Kai, towering over her with cameras, microphones, and recorders.

"I want to say to him that thank you for making an apology video” Kai said in soft, whisper of a voice. “You can inspire so many other people by telling them that don't carry around guns and don't do bad things."