Saginaw Family Dollar shooting victim says outpouring of help is restoring her faith in humanity

By KENDALL KEYS, JAMES PAXSON

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    SAGINAW, Michigan (WNEM) — A local community showed massive support Monday for a teenager continuing to recover from a gunshot wound to the face.

18-year-old Ariana Flynn was working at a Saginaw Family Dollar on New Years Eve when police say 17-year-old James T. Johnson robbed the store before shooting her.

Throughout the day Monday several local businesses combined forces for a fundraiser in support for Flynn’s recovery.

Flynn is coming to terms with her life-changing event on New Years Eve.

“I don’t know why he did it still. I’m not going to try to figure it out anymore because it’s just causing more pain on myself. He did it, it happened, it’s over, I’m healing,” Flynn said.

She was on the clock at a Saginaw Family Dollar Store when police say a teenager robbed the business at gunpoint then shot her in the face.

“It’s been a little bit harder to emotionally heal, but it’ll get there,” Flynn said.

She credits a shopper who was at the right place at the right time for saving her life.

“I kind of sprung into action to do what I could to help her,” Zachariah Collins said.

He said he could hear the robbery as it unfolded and by the time, he got to the front of the store Flynn had been shot.

“So, I took off running, and I found a fleece blanket and I just held that to her face to try and stop the bleeding as best as I could. I didn’t leave until the police told me that it was okay to move, that they needed to put her onto the stretcher to get her into the ambulance,” Collins said.

News of the robbery and shooting quickly spread and Flynn’s ordeal caught the attention of Milano’s Pizza in Saginaw Township.

“Everybody’s coming out to support her and help her get back on her feet so she doesn’t have to worry about her finances, and she can just focus on healing and getting her life back,” said Allie Przytula, general manager at Milano’s Pizza.

Milano’s hosted a pizza fundraiser and all the donations going straight to Flynn.

It was all hands-on deck in their kitchen trying to keep up with demand, as the line wrapped around the parking lot into the street.

“The line hasn’t, I mean it started before 4:00, and it hasn’t slowed down at all and we are just floored,” Przytula said.

Flynn said the outpouring of help is restoring her faith in humanity.

“Seeing how many people there actually is here is amazing. To know that there’s so many people in the world that aren’t bad, that aren’t mean, or scary,” Flynn said.

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