CINCINNATI — Woodward High School seniors Lagena Johnson Jr., 17, and Jaileyana Fraley, 18, acted quickly and bravely when a fellow student stumbled through the front door of the school Feb. 23 after being shot in a nearby apartment complex.
Johnson and Fraley were walking together to their final class of the day when the victim entered the school and collapsed to the floor.
RELATED: 17-year-old shot near Woodward High School was a student
"His brother was just, like, carrying him through the door, he was just walking through and fell," Fraley said.
When the victim collapsed, the girls rushed over and applied pressure to the bullet's entrance and exit wounds using his own shirt and his brother's shirt until EMTs could arrive minutes later.
The quick action likely saved his life.
"We tried to stay calm as best we could," Johnson said. "We were asking questions to make sure he was still conscious."
"It was scary, just because, you know, it's just us trying to remain calm," Fraley added, "and then we've got so many people in the background screaming and yelling."
The pair were recognized for their bravery Thursday by Hamilton's County's Juvenile Court, but they gave credit to what they call excellent prep to enter the medical field offered by Woodward Career and Technical.
"If we didn't go to a career tech school, we probably wouldn't have known what to do and he could have bled out right there," Fraley said.
The girls said in-school education, certification programs, and external internships curated by the school should be recognized as a positive for the area.
"They really help us get prepared for real world situations," Johnson said.
Fraley and Johnson both agreed it was a shame that the February shooting, and another shooting in April that injured two students waiting at a bus outside of Woodward, had given the school a bad reputation.
RELATED: Woodward High School cancels Wednesday classes the day after 2 students shot near school
They said gun violence was personal to them, they've both lost friends, and they called for community-wide change.
"This is something that isn't new to our kids and our teenagers in Cincinnati," Fraley said, "and something needs to change."
Fraley called for everyone in the community to step up and give kids more things to do, more opportunities to stay out of trouble.
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