Elijah Gossett with medical and ongoing expenses.

My name is Andrea Gonzales and I am a friend of Elijah Gossett. I work for his family and I can attest firsthand how hard this has been on us, the work family, and also Elijah's immediate family. I live in Greer, SC where Elijah Gossett's family lives.

Elijah is the oldest of 11 kids. Many of you know Elijah from when he worked at SELECT in Greer, SC. He served your food and made so many great drinks and became friends with Elijah and many of his siblings that work here. Elijah moved to WA state during COVID to try and make it in the music business and make his stamp on the cocktail scene. On February 12th he was cruelly shot 7 times while in his home. The first 2 shots were from behind, 2 more aimed from the front at his head and 3 more fired into his abdomen. He is a living breathing miracle of God today after being airlifted to a Seattle Hosptial where he underwent hours of operations to keep him alive. He still has many months of medical attention and surgeries needed to continue on his physical road to recovery.

To go into detail, Elijah had to receive over 3 liters of blood to even survive. After being shot, he couldn't even call 911 because of the amount of blood covering his phone. While attempting this, the shooter wrestled with him to prevent him from calling 911 and attempted to pin him down to ensure that he dies. Even with being shot 7 times and his right elbow being blown off, he wrestled free and escape his almost certain death. He ran 3 football fields in distance, to the main road in a t-shirt and shorts, while barefoot in freezing temperatures to get help. He saw a light on a porch and frantically knocked on their door. They call 911 for him and he laid on their driveway, bleeding to death. Miraculously, Elijah was taken to the hospital within 18 minutes of being shot and it was quickly assessed that his only chance of survival would be to be airlifted to a hospital in Seattle. Elijah was on the operating table within 2 hours of being shot which stopped the bleeding. The first operation to stop the bleeding lasted over 7 hours but he had multiple ones still yet to go.

After 3 days of coma-like sedation, he was able to open his eyes and speak. Weak but alive is the best way to describe it. They had to remove 3 sections of his bowel (intestines) and part of his colon. His right elbow was completely blown off and he had multiple entrance and exit wounds from the bullets that had to be sewn up. One bullet entered his neck from behind and came out of his chin. In addition, 3 bullets will remain inside of him due to complications of removing the remaining bullets.

While suffering through all of that, his right arm is locked into place by metal plates so he can't bend it waiting for further operations. You all know Elijah loves playing guitar and that might be in jeopardy for the rest of his life depending on the success of future operations.

As you can imagine, this will put a great financial strain on Elijah. He will not be able to work for possibly up to a year. His medical bills have already piled high and there is not much clarity on how much more it will be. Just being airlifted to the Seattle hospital costs more than $50,000. I have attached photos and links to the news stories about Elijah and the injustice that was done to him and how he will have to suffer for being unjustly shot 7 times. Please feel free to find it in your heart to take some of the burdens from him. The money will be spent on any remaining medical bills (which most likely will be substantial after the full bills are realized) since Elijah didn't have medical insurance. If any money is left over, then the money will be used to support Elijah because he will not be able to work for a minimum of 6 months but more likely a year.

Also, when Elijah was in a coma, the shooter was released on a 5,000 dollar bond. The detective wanted no bail to be issued. The prosecution wanted $500,000 bail to be issued, but the judge in question lowered it to 5,000. The entire city of Shelton, WA was furious over the judge's decision and the shooter actually was smirking while leaving the jail. More pictures and links will be posted as Elijah's journey continues but we all PRAISE GOD that he is alive and is out of the hospital and that he has a journey to continue. ALL monies received will go directly to Elijah Gossett. No exceptions but straight to Elijah.