Father shot three times in front of his family by teen robbers he tried to help

The Atlanta man who was shot when his home was invaded just as he and his wife had returned from a vacation said he remembers praying out loud, telling God he expected to meet him that day.

Mike Lash said he prayed.

“Lord, this is, I guess, the moment I will meet you today … if it is not your will, I am ready to stay,” he said.

Lash and his wife, Whitney, and their two children had just come home from vacation on August 16 when there was a knock at their door.

 

According to the account given by the Lashes to ABC News, Lash answered the door and saw two young men who told him they had just moved in down the street and experienced car trouble. The two men said they needed a jack, according to Lash.

“I had a feeling that it was an excuse and we were about to be robbed. Right about that moment i saw them pull the gun on Mike,” she said.

 

Whitney took the couple’s six-month-old, Lucy, ran out the back door and called 911, telling the operator in a whisper that they were being robbed at gunpoint.

 

Mike said he tried to block the door when he saw the gun. He was shot three times in the left leg as the two men – joined by two others – forced themselves inside the couple’s home and began taking items. The couple’s 2-year-old son, Everson, was taking a nap upstairs.

“It just went like a silent movie. They started walking in and I remember them coming in and out multiple times, just bringing stuff from our house,” Mike said.

 

One of the intruders had also chased Whitney.

“I heard footsteps of someone running and two more shots that were aimed at me and my daughter,” she said, adding that the intruder caught up to her and took her phone.

 

Whitney and Lucy were unharmed. Everson, too, was unharmed. He slept through the whole thing.

 

The Lashes helped police to generate a sketch that led to the Thursday arrest of 18-year-old Brandon Jerome Smith.

 

Police are still searching for Smith’s three alleged accomplices. Police are urging them to turn themselves in.

 

Mike is recovering from his wounds, and he and Whitney are grateful.

 

“We really do value every moment we have together now and are just so thankful to have our family be safe and we are all closer than ever,” she said.

The community has rallied around them.

“We are floored by how much support we have gotten ... our friends in our community have been amazing,” Mike said. “It has made us all so much closer.”

Smith was charged with aggravated assault and armed robbery, an Atlanta Police Department spokesman said.