‘It’s Hard Going To Sleep Thinking About It’: Del City Color Guard Member Recounts Moment She Heard Gunfire At Choctaw Game

For Christina Goodwin, the fountain at Patriot Park in Del City is special because it’s where she brings her high school daughter, Dyshari.

“I’ll bring her over here, her and her cousin and they'll just sit and listen to the waterfall,” she said.

A peaceful calm they both need more than ever after a deadly shooting at a football game Friday night in Choctaw. “The screams that I heard and the yelling and crying that I heard, it keeps replaying, you know, in my mind,” Christina said.

Her daughter is a part of the color guard in the Del City band and had looked forward to her first high school football game as a freshman. “I was excited about it,” Dyshari said. “Just hanging out with my friends, seeing all the football players and other people in band.”

She was in the stands getting ready to perform when all of a sudden she heard gunfire. “We heard two gunshots,” she said.

Dyshari said she and some other band members hid under a seat in the bleachers, found a phone and called her mom. “I just wanted to hug her really because I was scared,” she said.

“It hurt me because as a parent we want to protect our kids, and I was in a position where I felt like I couldn't protect her,” Christina said.

So, they prayed over the phone and eventually were reunited hours later in the Del City High School parking lot.

“The first night she just looked terrified still,” Christina said. “The first two nights, it was hard for her to sleep.”

“It's hard to go to sleep thinking about it because you don't know what happened because it happened quickly,” Dyshari said.

Dysari went to school Monday to see the counselors provided by the Mid-Del School District.

“It was good to see my friends that I didn't get to see after it happened because I was worried about them,” she said.

Looking forward, Christina wants to see change. “I'm hoping they will implement some more security measures like metal detectors,” she said.

She would also like to see a hotline created where students would feel comfortable reporting suspicious behavior. “Just something where they would feel comfortable reporting things,” she said. “Sometimes they are afraid they are going to be retaliated against if they tell.”

As they both continue to heal emotionally, the mother and daughter say they continue to prayer for the family of the victim, Cordea Carter.

“Our hearts and prayers are with the family that lost a loved one and we pray they are safe,” Dyshari said.

Dyshari said she won't let this stop her from participating in the band and she plans to go to the next game.