Kalamazoo shooting survivor Abigail Kopf speaks again

Shooting survivor Abigail Kopf has spoken for the first time since the Kalamazoo attacks last month, her family said Friday.

"This little girl loves her pig named Hamlet," the family-approved GoFundMe page said in an update. "Tonight, Abbie spoke her first word. It was 'pig.' This gives us great hope that she will regain her speech."

After a 17-day stay at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Abigail is at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. The 14-year-old seventh-grader at Harper Creek Middle School was shot once in the head during a series of random shootings in Kalamazoo County on Feb. 20, when she and four women were attacked while returning to a suburban Kalamazoo Cracker Barrel restaurant parking lot; the other women were killed.

Abbie's parents talk: 'She was not ready to go yet'

Police say the shooting was part of a spree that night, and that 45-year-old Jason Dalton also opened fire at an apartment complex and a car dealership. A total of six people were killed and two, including Abigail, were severely injured.

Abigail's mom, Vicki Kopf, said on Facebook that her daughter remembers the shooting and has had trouble sleeping. She has been crying and therapy has been difficult, she said. "My beautiful girl is holding her own" and is "going through a lot right now," Vicki Kopf said.

More than $56,000 had been raised for Abigail through GoFundMe as of Friday afternoon. Harper Creek Community Schools will host a Hat Day on March 18, during which kids can wear a hat all day at school as long they donate a dollar or any amount they choose. The funds will be donated to Kopf's family.

Contact Jennifer Bowman at 269-966-0589 or jbowman@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter: @jenn_bowman