Dallas Mother Who Shielded Sons During Shooting Praises Police for Their Actions

In an emotional press conference Sunday, Shetamia Taylor, a mother who was injured while shielding her sons during the shooting in Dallas that claimed the lives of five police officers, thanked law enforcement for their actions during the attack, according to KXAS‑TV.

She described the first officer to help her as a "big guy."

"I saw him go down, I saw him when he got hit, he slumped over, and as he was slumping over he said, 'He has a gun, run,'" Taylor said. "I don't think he made it, I don't think he made it."

Taylor expressed anger at the perpetrator of the attack: "I'm frustrated. I'm angry. Why would he do that?"

The mother of four boys, who was shot in the leg during the attack, is being hailed as a hero herself for her actions to protect her children during the ordeal.

"I didn't do anything that any other mother, father, wouldn't have done for their own child," Taylor, who's recovering from a fractured tibia where a bullet passed through her leg, said, according to KXAS. "'Cause I really feel as though if it's going to happen to one of my sons, it's going to have to happen to me first. And it only happened to me, and I'm thankful for that."

Taylor, 37, said she took her four of her sons — 12, 13, 15 and 17 — to the protest in order to teach them to “be productive in their communities.”

"I'm just a mother and a wife. I'm not an activist. I'm not a politician. I want to protect my family, and I want my sons to come up as good young men … and I just want them to know that you have to work for anything, in order to achieve something in life," she said.

Taylor she has “always held police officers at a very high place in life."

"My son, my youngest one, since he was six, that's all he wants to do and I'm going to support him in that, and I'm going to continue to support my community, my police officers,” Taylor said. “I've never had an issue with police officers. And if anything, it's just made my admiration for them greater, it really it has."

"These are the people that you call when you are in a situation, you gotta remember that," Taylor added. "What are we going to do if the police decide, 'You know I'm done'? What are we going to do if they stop policing? What are we going to do? What if they just decide, 'We're going to boycott'? Who you gonna call?"

Taylor said she would protest again, but urged protesters to "stop and think first."

"Please. Stop and think," she said. "Closed mouth, open mind, will get you a long way in life."

“I want my community to be unified,” Taylor continued. “I want my people to be unified. I want all of us to come together.”

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