When Steven Zachritz first saw the blood coming from his daughter’s leg, he assumed his son had kicked her in the shin with a cleat. Then he realized his 8-year-old son wasn’t wearing cleats.
The family had gone to Little Rock's Allsopp Park to play soccer Friday evening. Zachritz said his children were about 30 feet away from him, struggling for the ball, when he heard the 14-year-old girl scream about 7:15 p.m.
He started to run, he said, shouting at a woman to call 9-1-1. A bystander pulled out a belt to use as a tourniquet. Zachritz told them to tie it tighter — and then, the 48-year-old said, someone pointed to a bloody arrow lying in the grass.
Police later identified it as one of Carbon Express’ PileDriver arrows, a series the company recommends for “the hunter who wants ultimate penetration.”
It was sharp, Zachritz recalled, with razors around the tip.
“That’s what I pulled out of my leg,” his daughter told him.
Zachritz said the Little Rock family learned at the hospital that the arrow had been designed to expand when it penetrated skin. There was an exit wound, the doctors told him, which meant the arrow had gone between bones and through the girl's calf.
The girl told authorities she hadn’t seen anyone. Her father said the same. After searching the area, a group of Little Rock police officers failed to locate the shooter.
“I want to think it was an accident,” Zachritz said. “Just someone being stupid.”
He said he can't believe that someone aimed to shoot his daughter, who started high school at Mount St. Mary Academy this year.
Next weekend, the teen was supposed to compete in a soccer tournament, her father said.
Before she was struck by the arrow, she had been choosing between two dresses for her first homecoming dance Saturday. “Now, we’re trying to figure out which one goes with stitches,” Zachritz said.
He told her she’ll have to wear tennis shoes with the injury.
She says she’s going in heels.
