WINNIPEG — He received the call no parent ever wants to get.
“I went to bed and about 40 minutes later the Winnipeg police called and told me she had been shot in the chest,” the news jolted Corey Vanderaa out of bed.
His daughter, 16-year-old Calli Vanderaa, had been shot by a stranger while out with friends.
Vanderaa, a single parent, rushed to be by his daughters side early Saturday morning.
READ MORE: Witness describes how 16-year-old friend was shot with stolen RCMP gun in Winnipeg Friday
“The bullet entered her right lung punctured her lung, it hit her spleen and her colon,” Vanderaa said, speaking to Global News outside the Health Sciences Centre Wednesday.
“Calli just keeps saying she’s sorry, she’s sorry ‘I’m sorry daddy’,” Vanderaa said, who was shaking and in tears. “‘I should have stayed home, I should have cuddled with you, I shouldn’t have gone to Macs’.”
WATCH: Corey Vanderaa speaks to media after 16-year-old daughter shot with stolen RCMP firearm
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Calli was spending the night at her friend’s house and was heading to the Macs convenience store in Windsor Park at 12:30 Saturday morning to get a drink when a stranger shot her with a stolen RCMP gun.
“We went to the washroom and get a drink,” best friend Kailey Compton said. “As we were walking to the car we noticed these two guys throwing up gang signs at us…one of my other friends said ‘he has a gun’.”
Compton says Calli and her jumped into the car while the driver tried starting the vehicle in a panic as they saw the suspect approach the car with the gun. He tried to open the door.
“He knocked on the window and he put the gun to the window and then he shot through the window,” Compton said.
She says they sped off and moments later Calli started screaming, “I’ve been shot, I’ve been hit, somebody help me, I’ve been shot.”
They pulled over and Compton called 911.
“We put her in the back seat, we were helping her and I was like holding her telling her Calli what’s your name? what’s your last name?”
Vanderaa credits Kailey for saving his daughter’s life.
“Kailey did what she had to do to save her, she would have bled out right there,” Vanderaa said.
Police say the suspects broke into a marked off-duty RCMP member’s car parked in his driveway in Southeast Winnipeg. They’re investigating whether the officer followed proper protocol in securing his weapon in a locked box but Vanderaa says there needs to be a better policy to keep this from happening.
“If they’re keeping vehicles with weapons in them then those vehicles should be alarmed or there should be some type of policy where weapons are stored at all times,” said Vanderaa.
Vanderaa says he’s grateful to everyone for their love and support. He especially wanted to thank Winnipeg police for their compassion and dedication in finding the suspects and staff at HSC for caring for his daughter. He says he’s not mad at the RCMP officer and trusts the justice system will do its job.
He said, Calli wants to be a lawyer one day.
Unfortunately she’ll see how the legal system works first hand when her alleged shooter goes to court. Vanderaa has a message for him.
“You’ve affected my daughters life but you’re not going to destroy it.”
Police arrested 25-year-old Matthew Andrew Miles after a six hour stand-off on Keenleyside Street on Sunday where they located the stolen weapon. He’s facing 11 charges including theft. 22-year-old Matthew Wilfred McKay was arrested a short time later and faces 30 charges including attempted murder.
A go fund me account has been set up to help the single father and Calli with finances as she will be on a long road to recovery.
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