STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now for Jessica Evers Jones, the anniversary of the L.A. riots is also a birthday. Jessica entered the world dramatically. On that first day of the riots, her pregnant mother, Elvira Jones, was shot in the stomach outside her home. Elvira was rushed to the hospital, and Jessica was delivered by emergency C-section. Surgeons removed a bullet from her elbow. She was famous before she was a week old.
Jessica doesn't like to tell her story these days. And she says that when she does, people often don't believe her at first.
JESSICA EVERS JONES: Although I was the youngest victim, it's more people out there that got hurt during the riots. Like, I appreciate the attention that I'm getting because of the situation, but it's other people who was affected.
INSKEEP: Other people were affected more than me, she says. Today, Jessica Evers Jones is about to turn 20. She's going to school, studying criminal justice and hoping to be a probation officer. And she spends plenty of time babysitting her 3-year-old nephew. She says that's the kind of legacy of the riots, of the day she was born - the day she almost died. All of her siblings live nearby, and remain close.
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