'I Wish Every Time It Happened ... I Could Save the Woman'

WINDERMERE, Fla. — Two days before his mother's boyfriend would shoot and kill her, Dee Gordon heard her cries from the kitchen as her boyfriend tried to choke her. Less than a month past his seventh birthday, Dee rushed from his bedroom armed with an eight-pound dumbbell.

He crashed the weight into her boyfriend's head. In an instant, blood began seeping from his bald skull. As it did, the man swung his arms, and little Dee was sent flying.

"He pushed my skinny ass across the room," Gordon says, memory vivid, eyes wide open, staring straight ahead.

At seven, the world is mostly a collection of impressions. Not everything makes sense or adds up. There is simply the moment in front of you, and…