J.D. Gallop

FLORIDA TODAY

A Palm Bay woman repeatedly shot by her paralyzed husband during a deadly police standoff earlier this month has been left without use of her lower body, according to friends and authorities close to the case.

"It's horrible, absolutely devastating," said Krissy Chapman of the medical challenges facing her longtime friend Amy Jones Newman in the aftermath of the Aug. 2 shooting. Chapman said she spoke to her friend several days after the domestic violence-linked shooting. A nurse held the phone to Newman's ear.

"She said a few things and just cried. We've been through a lot together. I'm unable to leave Missouri right now, so not to be there and not holding her hand is really emotional for me. But we want to let her know that God still has a purpose for her life," said Chapman, who is at the forefront of raising funds for her friend.

The life-changing diagnosis is also the latest in a series of devastating tragedies to befall Amy Newman, who Chapman said lost her mother to a homicide nearly two decades ago and who in 2013 was awakened by gunfire to find her husband – the same man authorities say paralyzed her earlier this month – shot and wounded more than a dozen times by an assailant. He was left paralyzed by the gunfire.

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According to hospital officials, Amy Newman remains hospitalized in good condition at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. Her 43-year-old husband, Demarco Newman, was shot to death as SWAT team members raided the couple’s cottage home on Lockheed Street in a mostly industrial section of the city. Officers went to the home after receiving a 911 call hours before from Amy Newman as she hid in a bathtub with the door closed, pleading for help.

“He’s trying to get in the bathroom,” Amy Newman whispered to the dispatcher that night in a newly released 911 recording.

“My husband he has a gun," she said, pleading for police to come.

“Has he threatened you with it?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes,” she said before her cries gave way to the sound of a man talking in the background before the phone cut off.

A short time later, Amy Newman, grievously wounded, was rescued from the home and taken to the hospital.

"Her condition is now stable," said Lt. Mike Bandish of the Palm Bay Police Department. "We take all domestic violence cases very serious, unfortunately the violence in this case resulted in our victim sustaining serious injuries."

Friends say Amy Newman, a one-time property manager from Missouri and mother of a 21-year-old son from a prior relationship, had taken on the role of caregiver following the attack on her husband three years ago. He was left paralyzed with only the use of his arms and underwent multiple surgeries to help repair the damage left behind by the hollow-point bullets that struck his chest and torso.

Police later charged Damien Duff-Porter, a 38-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, with attempted murder in connection with the shooting. It was not immediately known if the trial would still go forward since Amy Newman was a chief witness in the case.

"She stopped her own personal life to care for him. She lived for him, bathing him, feeding him. She was his wife and his nurse," Chapman said.

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"Now he's the reason she's in this condition," she said, adding that she's also learned her friend has limited use of her arms and hands.

Friends, neighbors and police said the couple's relationship over the last few months had been strained. Amy Newman even set up a Gofundme account detailing the couple's struggles and multiple medical setbacks.

"(Three) months later, we were home," Amy Newman wrote on the Gofundme page, describing their return home from the hospital. "Every single day we get through together."

She wrote that a number of her husband's friends became scarce after the shooting.

It wasn't the first time the wife and mother faced tragedy.

In 2000, Amy Newman's mother – then 38 – was stabbed to death in Missouri, according to local media reports. Police said the woman, Gerri Jones, was attacked in her apartment and repeatedly stabbed with a stiletto embedded with a 6-inch blade. Police arrested another woman and her boyfriend in connection with the slaying.

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Amy Newman described her mother's relationship for a reporter in the case as "abusive."

The Newmans moved to Florida for a new start with Demarco Newman focusing on his fledgling career as a hip-hop producer. Police said a dispute over a car led to the 2013 shooting that left her husband bloodied and barely breathing on the floor of their apartment. Fearing he was near death, officers recall Demarco Newman telling his stepson to take care of his mother.

But Demarco Newman survived – and remained depressed about his condition.

"I think Demarco snapped. He was very active before he was paralyzed. But it came to a point where she wanted a little bit of a normal life. Now she's paralyzed and she'll need special equipment. She lost her house. She is hanging in there but angry, she's had a lot of setbacks but continues to fight," Chapman said.

The Gofundme account so far has raised about $3,000 of the $100,000 requested. Chapman said any donation to help her friend would be welcome.

Some of the messages posted to the fundraising page are from Amy Newman's family in England. Right now, she has an aunt and cousin visiting her in Florida but no other relatives are in the state except her son.

The question now, Chapman said, is where Amy Newman will go after this.

"We haven't figured that out yet. We know her hospital stay will be lengthy," she said.

"Then she'll go to a rehab center. Right now they are keeping her sedated. She needs all the prayers and financial support she can get."

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and on Twitter at @jdgallop