Four Year Old Girl Talking: Witnessed Mother, Sister, Two Others Shot to Death

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A four year old girl, recovering at a hospital from a gunshot wound to one of her shoulders, is talking - to police detectives and to her loved ones - about what happened at her home Thursday night, about seeing the man who shot her also kill her mother, 11 year old sister and two family friends.

"She's doing fine," said a great uncle, Cleveland Williams, Friday night, "She came through surgery very fine, talking."

Williams -- near tears as he spoke with 11Alive News outside Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Egleston -- said the four year old has been surrounded by family, calmly describing the horrors she witnessed. She watched the man police identify as her mother's boyfriend, 44 year old Richard Ringold, open fire inside their home in Gwinnett County. (Ringold was arrested later that night).

* Neighbor: Gwinnett Shooter Deserves To Die

So the girl saw her mother, 28 year old Atania Butler, shot to death, along with her 11 year old sister Jhane Thomas, and two family friends, 30 year old Lakeisha Parker and 19 year old Rico Zimmerman.

And she was shot in the shoulder as she ran.

"Yeah, she saw everything," Williams said. "She ran for her life. Says the guy shot 'em. And she was just running. She just says he just started shooting, just started shooting, the man just started shooting."

Atania Butler was shot to death nearly four years to the day after Hurricane Katrina forced her to flee, ultimately to Gwinnett County, and to a rented home in Claridge Crossing, and to a stormy relationship with the new man in her life.

The four year old believes she knows the reason the man opened fire --

"She said it was an argument," Williams said. "They were fussing about something. He kicked the door in and came in and started shooting."

The girl ran outside, and into the arms of a neighbor.

"And all the way to the ambulance, the little girl told me that her family was dead," said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. "She wasn't in tears at all. She wasn't crying. She handled it like an adult maybe would not have."

The girl, whose name police and relatives want to remain private, underwent two surgeries Friday.

Richard Ringold is in the Gwinnett County Jail facing charges that include four counts of murder, and aggravated assault.