Oasis shooting: Hometown hero recovers from mass shooting
CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Three weeks ago, tragedy struck at the Oasis Club in Clay County. A shooting there left one dead and a dozen wounded.
Law enforcement is still working to piece together what happened that chaotic night, while the loved ones of the victims speak out, pleading for an end to the violence.
Crystal Freeman is a mother grappling with every parent’s worst fear.
She describes the moment she received the call, her voice quivering with raw emotion.
“To get a call that their child’s been shot three times in the back and not knowing when you get there if he’s going to be breathing or not, I wouldn’t wish it on nobody,” said Freeman.
Her son, Kolban Hogan, was almost killed while saving the lives of two other people.
“This hurt me,” said Kenneth Yeats, Hogan’s long-time friend. “He brings everybody together. He’s just like the link in the chain. Kolban is just a genuine dude. This stuff should have never happened to him.”
When gunfire rang out, he immediately fell on top of his sister and her friend to shield them from the stray bullets.
WCBI asked Hogan’s best friend, “When you learned that he saved not only his sister’s life but another young lady’s life, were you surprised?” Troope responded, “No. That’s him. That’s him all the way.”
“It makes me feel good as a mom to know how I raised him,” said Freeman. “As a brother, as a man, he knew what he was supposed to do.”
Thousands of people have shown Hogan support online, which in turn met his GOFUNDME goal for medical bills.
He has been praised as a hero, a title he doesn’t associate himself with.
“I feel like that’s a term I ain’t ready to have,” said Hogan. “I just feel like that’s just something that I should have did.”
He said instinct took over as soon as the gunfire started.
His own well-being was the least of his concerns.
“I knew I had got shot,” he said. “After that, it was like on to the next. I can’t worry about what I’m doing. I had to make sure everybody was safe. Helping as many people as I can, just getting them out of the way so they don’t get hurt.”
After spending almost two weeks in the Intensive Recovery Unit, a failed surgery, and three shots to the back, Hogan is finally home. And he knew that it wouldn’t take long.
“I knew I was going to be better,” said Hogan. “I knew there was going to be a shake back.”
Troope was one of Hogan’s friends who prayed over him while he literally lay in his sick bed.
“I just think it was good for all of us for them, and also for ourselves. Just to kind of tell each other that everything gone be okay,” said Troope.
Freeman believes there are better ways than violence to handle differences.
“It’s a better way than pulling out guns and playing God and taking people’s lives,” said Freeman. “If you got beef with somebody, get in a boxing ring. Box. Get out here in an open field. Box, fight. Anything besides taking each other life because once you take one person’s life, your life is gone too cause you’re going to prison. So it’s not worth it. It’s not worth your life. It’s not worth that person’s life to pull the trigger and kill somebody cause now you’re gone too. ”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Department is still looking for leads in the case.
Contact Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 1(800)530-7151 or the sheriff’s office if you have any information that could help investigators.
