COLUMBUS – Their Dec. 27 fishing trip started out like any other for Aiden Stanley and Max Osburn on Columbus Lake.
The childhood best friends regularly hung out together outdoors. Karen Stanley, Aiden’s mother, said both she and Carmen Osburn, Max’s mother, expected their sons to return home safely since they were together.
But then at about 4:45 p.m. that afternoon, Max and Aiden’s lives were changed forever when Kyle Richardson, 47, allegedly robbed and shot Max before later turning the gun on himself at the Waverly Ferry boat ramp. Deputies found items belonging to Max on Richardson and a gun near his body.
“I don’t have words as a parent for what it feels like, only to say that I would never wish that phone call that Carmen received nor the phone call we received on anyone else,” Karen told The Dispatch Friday.
Aiden, who was at the boat during the shooting, called 911 and kept Max stable until first responders arrived on the scene and airlifted him to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Carmen wrote in a Monday Facebook post.
“I am so grateful that Aiden was with him and not hurt and able to call for help,” the post said.
Since the shooting, community members and friends of the Osburn family, including Karen, have organized fundraising efforts, including a community fish fry lunch and a GoFundMe to support Max during his recovery process and to help supplement his medical bills.
Max was shot three times, and underwent surgery at NMMC before transferring to a hospital in Memphis. Max is conscious, though he is suffering from paralysis below his waist from one of the bullets that hit his spine, Carmen said.
“In other circumstances he would be dead, and I hate to even think about that, but God had His hand on Max through all of this,” Carmen said in a Wednesday post to Facebook. “… Max is a miracle, has been since the first time I met him a little over 20 years ago. We’ve always believed that God has a great plan for his life, and while we really have no idea where He’s taking Max in the next few years, we hold to that belief that God is in control.”
‘Eager to jump in’
After the shooting, Karen reached out to Doug Pellum, owner of Zachary’s, and Realtor Colin Krieger to help organize and plan a fundraiser for Max’s recovery. She wanted to plan something to help her close friend Carmen and Max, who has always been like her “third child.”
“With Max having a very difficult road in front of him with his recovery, we want to make sure that we have an event that can potentially help him with not only today’s expenses, but expenses he may see in the future,” Karen said.
Pellum said when he got the message from Karen earlier this week, he “was eager to jump in.”
“She approached us (and asked) if we could help out in any way,” Pellum said. “… We’ve got the resources. We’ve got the building. We’ve got everything to be able to put this together, and obviously we wanted to be a part of it.”
On Jan. 25 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the group will be throwing the Reel Love for Max fundraiser event, which will feature $20 fried fish plates. Karen said there will also be either a raffle or silent auction for prizes. Pellum said all the proceeds from the event will go towards Max’s recovery.
Karen said more details will be finalized in the coming weeks as the event gets closer.
“We are working on (the details) right now,” Karen said. “I’ve already had some lovely companies that have started to reach out to me to offer things to go into the silent auction. Obviously, with all of this coming together right before New Year’s, I am going to be starting to try to work with (and) potentially reaching out to some other companies to see what they would be willing or able to help us do.”
Karen said there isn’t currently a fundraising goal for the event, but she hopes proceeds will help ease Max’s recovery costs. The GoFundMe page, started by Courtney Williams, has already received more than $27,000 and 301 donations as of Friday afternoon.
Krieger said the group knew that the fundraiser had to happen sooner rather than later while Max’s recovery was still in the forefront of community members’ minds.
“It’s really our job as a community to support our friends and family in a time of need and not just for medical bills (but) because at a certain time the casseroles stop coming,” Krieger said. “… Eventually, people will not be thinking about Max every day, and we kind of have to jump on it while we have that spirit.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
