Cost of gunfire: A personal look at the emotional and physical impact of gun violence

By JENNIFER MAYERLE

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — At least 150 people have been shot in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That’s more than one person a day. Last year that number climbed to 793 in just the Twin Cities.

Each person a bullet hits faces recovery, and has a family or someone who cares about them who also endure the trauma.

So what is the cost of gunfire? It costs roughly $22,000 to treat a patient with a gunshot wound at Hennepin Healthcare. In 2021, they treated 142 people. Last year it was 120. But those are just numbers. Behind every bullet is a real person who knows firsthand the true cost of gunfire.

Xaveon Brown has had a hard life, but still finds a reason to smile. He’s living with his choices in life.

“Only being 22 and being shot 11 times…It’s more of a lot of gut decisions that got me here,” Xaveon said.

He’s in a wheelchair — a T-7 paraplegic after taking that 11th bullet at the end of 2020.

“He only shot one. Close range. Just dropped the clip, picked it up and ran off,” Xaveon said.

He joined a gang when he was 6 or 7 years old and believes he was targeted. He says he wanted to be independent, but without a father figure, he turned to the streets. He says the life was stressful.

“Every day having to look over your shoulder or having to worry about going to jail and not having enough money to bail out,” Xaveon said.

The first time he was shot, he was only 13 or 14.

“I’d say right before I had my daughter in 2014,” Xaveon said.

He describes what happened the first time.

“I was shot in the leg with a 12-gauge shotgun. That was the very first one that I got shot with. Back then I was looking for money to try to come up and I was car shopping and ripping and running the streets, stealing cars, like just doing dumb stuff. And karma caught up to me very quick that day,” he said.

He says he was shot several more times over the course of about a two years.

“I was like target practice. For two years straight I was back and forth in the hospital from getting shot left and right. The recovery was just like…I couldn’t even get the opportunity to recover. Kept on getting shot,” he said. “I’m surprised I can sit here and smile right now. Like, at times I do be wanting to like just give up, but I know that there’s something out there for me.”

That something for Xaveon is his family, who haven’t left his side: his then-girlfriend, now fiancé, and his mom Maine.

“If you love them and you care about that person, you’re gonna feel something. And that’s gonna change something in your head and in your heart. He feels so bad, but I mean, your life choices came up on your mom, your sister and your grandmother. Ones that was there for you all the time…Now we got to pay for you being shot and that hurt you,” Maine said.

But Xaveon isn’t the only one hurting.

“The person that got shot be like, ‘Well I’m the one that got shot! Y’all ain’t got to deal with this!’ Yes, we do. Yes, we do,” Maine said. “We had to deal with his mood swings. We had to deal with him sometimes just snapping out the blue, and we just had to accept it because we ain’t dealing with something.”

Maine tries to focus on how she can help her son. At times when she lets her mind think about what’s happened, it can get pretty dark.

“It’s like somebody dying, it never heals. So I’m never gonna ever say it’s OK or I’m fine or it don’t hurt no more. He may not be dead, but it’s a totally different life than what he had. And it hurts and it’s different,” Maine said.

Xaveon lives in constant pain. He deals with leg spasms, fights depression, and is reminded daily of the last bullet that pierced his arm.

“This pain is like something that’s so unbelievable. It keeps you up at night. Like, even if you’ve been up for a week, this pain will keep you awake. It won’t let you get a wink. It just reminds me more and I try to forget it. But that’s one thing that my body is not gonna let me do is to forget that,” Xaveon said.

He knows he could benefit from therapy, but says it’s not his focus right now.

“That first breath in the morning. To know I accomplished at least a couple of my goals. Making sure that I eat at least twice a day. That’s a good day for me,” Xaveon said.

He does want what’s happened in his life to help others. He hopes other young people will see joining a gang is not worth it.

Watch our next story on the cost of gunfire Tuesday at 10 p.m. Hear from people offering hope and healing.

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