‘I thought my life had ended’: Teen survives gunshot to the head after road rage incident

LEWISBURG, Tenn. (WKRN) — Three weeks after a Lewisburg teenager was shot in the head, she shared her story of survival and warned others about the dangers of road rage.

Celina Southerland, 19, spoke with News 2 on Wednesday. She recalled feeling panic moments after she was shot in the head while driving in Bedford County. She was headed home from spending time at the lake with friends.

“I thought my life had ended,” Southerland said.

At first, she didn’t even realize she had been shot.

“Whenever I got my vision back, everything was blurry at first,” Southerland said. “[I] got my hearing back and my friend…was screaming and crying. Her boyfriend was covering her head because he didn’t want her to look at me and I was wondering what was going on. I looked in my rearview mirror and I saw blood and was like ‘Oh no.’”

Southerland said that she and her friends were traveling down Normandy Road when the driver began tailgating a slower vehicle. After getting brake checked, she said the driver of the car that she was in pulled around the slow-moving vehicle and did the same thing.

Moments later, a bullet came through her front-seat headrest.

“You know, he didn’t have to brake check us. We didn’t have to brake check him either,” Southerland said. “We could have just been the bigger person and went ahead.”

Southerland was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was released from the hospital two days later. She told News 2 that she has follow-up appointments scheduled with the hospital’s trauma team to monitor for brain bleeds.

Loved ones said they had just talked to Southerland minutes before she was shot. They also wished that the other driver had called 911.

“She had Snapchatted at me and in 23 minutes — 23 minutes — she was in the road with a hole in her head,” family friend Stacey Robison said. “There were three other young teenagers in that car. You’re a grown man. You could have had, should have had, more patience.”

Southerland now has a permanent scar.

“It’s not fun. That’s your life that you’re playing with,” Southerland said. “It can definitely be taken quick.”

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Forty-two-year-old William Brown was arrested on June 27 and charged with aggravated assault. He’s currently being held in the Bedford County Jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 31.

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