MIAMI (WSVN) - A night out with his 8-year-old daughter turned into a fight for survival and the beginning of a two-year legal odyssey for a father when a woman opened fire outside of a Miami restaurant.
Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Darren Campbell said he was certain his life was coming to a violent end on the night of Feb. 27, 2021.
“I was aware that I was shot, and I was probably going to die,” he said.
Audio from Campbell’s 911 call captured the heart-stopping moments after he was shot.
“What’s your address and emergency?” asked the dispatcher.
“I’m shot, I’m shot, I’m shot,” said Campbell.
The victim said it was the worst moment of his life.
Campbell said he was shot twice while with his daughter, Jade Campbell. The 9 mm rounds struck his chest and abdomen.
“Come here, baby. It’s OK. I’m shot,” Campbell is heard saying on the 911 call.
“No, no, no, no. Somebody help him!” Jade is heard saying. “Are you dying?”
The wounded father lay bleeding along the 3300 block of Coral Way outside Hooters, where they had finished dinner minutes earlier.
Now in a wheelchair and with a murder case pending against the shooter, Campbell, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting, is speaking about the incident publicly for the first time.
“PTSD is terrible,” he said.
Surveillance video obtained by 7News shows the victim walking with his daughter inside the restaurant before he turns toward a group that is sitting down.
Words appear to be exchanged, and moments later, a woman is seen getting up and apparently following Campbell outside to the side of the business.
With the camera’s view of the shooter obstructed, the woman fires a shot, and Campbell goes down.
“Get an ambulance here, fast, fast!” he told the 911 dispatcher.
“Can somebody get me fire rescue?” said the dispatcher.
The shooter, identified as Quanesha Lewis, was later arrested.
On March 2, 2021, she appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
“Ms. Lewis, you were arrested for one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of child abuse,” said Glazer.
According to the police report, she told police it started when Campbell said, “Tip your waitress or I’m going to slash all four of your tires.”
Lewis told detectives she was afraid for her life when he put his hand in his pocket, but Campbell was unarmed.
On the advice of counsel, Campbell refused to discuss this allegation.
“Overall, it’s been a living hell,” he said.
Campbell’s life has been forever changed. He said he was told he would never walk again, but he is doing so, albeit in pain.
“Oh, my God. He’s walking,” Jade is heard saying in video of his physical therapy.
Campbell said he’s had so many surgeries that he has lost count.
He has also gotten a small dog.
“I got it for PTSD. She makes a big difference,” he said.
But Campbell’s main concern remains Jade, who is now 10. He said he’s concerned over her own PTSD after seeing her father gunned down.
“The officer was giving my daughter instructions on what to do, and I stopped them and I said, ‘Come here, honey, give Daddy a kiss. I love you,’ and that’s the clearest thing I can remember,” he said.
“Stand your ground” and attempted murder cases remain pending in this incident.
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