Son dies calling 911 to save mother's life after both are shot

NORLINA, N.C — A woman who was shot by her estranged husband is crediting her son for saving her life.

WWBT reported that Keisha Valentine left Richmond, Virginia, with her son, Earl Washington III, 15,  to escape from her husband, Earl Washington Jr., who she said was abusive.

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Around 1:30 a.m. Sept. 7, Washington kicked in the door to their home while Valentine and her son were asleep.

Valentine told WWBT she walked into her kitchen and was shot in the chest by a gun.

"I felt a burn but not a pain, I didn't really hear it -- I just felt something and it kinda, like, winded me," Valentine said. "I start running. As I ran, the gun went 'boom, boom, boom, boom, boom' I collapsed in my room, I shut the door behind me and I fell and hit the ground. I said, 'I'm gonna die on this floor.'"

But Valentine was worried about her son. She heard him on the phone with 911 next door.

"I heard that little boy's voice (say), 'Me and my momma been shot, my daddy did it,'" she said. "My heart just wrenched. He knew his daddy did this to us."

Washington came to the house that night to kill Valentine, but it was their son who died. Police told The Associated Press Earl died trying to protect his mother.

When police arrived, Earl directed them to his mother.

"'Don't worry about me, save my momma, don't worry about me,'" Valentine heard her son tell police.

Valentine was shot five times and now uses a wheelchair. She said she is alive because of her son.

U.S. Marshals tracked Washington to a motel in Columbia, South Carolina. The AP reported that he was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Why me? Why am I still alive? Why me? Why did my son have to die for something he had nothing to do with, he was an innocent kid," Valentine said.

Valentine said her son's memory keeps her moving forward. "I have to keep pushing myself on, otherwise my son would've saved my life for nothing."

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