Inset: Dr. Ellena Gooch-Reid (Facebook). Background: The Ripley Police Department in Ripley, Tenn. (Google Maps).
An 87-year-old Tennessee woman known for advocating for others is recovering after she was brutally attacked inside her Ripley home while trying to help a young person.
Dr. Ellena Gooch-Reid was beaten and left critically injured during the Sept. 9 home invasion. Ripley Police Chief Mitchell Turner announced Tuesday that arrest warrants had been issued for Kevin Harper Jr. and an unnamed juvenile. Neither suspect had been taken into custody as of Wednesday. The local NBC affiliate WMC reported that Gooch-Reid has been in and out of the hospital since the attack but remains on the road to recovery.
Turner said in a press release that both suspects face multiple felony charges related to the alleged assault. The charges include attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault, especially aggravated burglary, especially aggravated robbery and aggravated abuse of an elderly person.
During an interview with WMC, Gooch-Reid described the injuries she suffered while recovering. The civil rights activist and minister, who once marched alongside the late Rep. John Lewis, said she sustained “nine wounds” to her head, chest and arms.
Gooch-Reid told the station that shortly before the attack, she had helped a young person obtain clothing for school—something she regularly does. “I believe he was the one who came into my house and robbed me,” she said. According to WMC, she told investigators that an older man entered the home and struck her repeatedly in the head with both his fist and open hand.
WMC reported that Gooch-Reid was discovered lying on the floor in a pool of blood. A police report obtained by the station said she suffered fractures to her right hand and left arm.
“I am reliving the experience through nightmares, and that’s hard,” Gooch-Reid told WMC.
