GEOFF BENNETT: Every week, it seems, we cover America's epidemic of gun violence, but we don't focus nearly enough on the victims living with the lifelong impacts of that violence.

Tonight, the story of what happens when one of those survivors meets the person who pulled the trigger.

William Brangham reveals how an unlikely reunion recently came about in Florida.

It's part of our ongoing series Searching for Justice.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-four years ago, then 17-year-old Craig Dean shot at another teenager who he says robbed him.

CRAIG DEAN, Shot Tiaquandra Addison: So, I got out of the car and went to shoot him and got back in the car and left.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But he missed.

The bullet hit then-13-year-old Tiaquandra Addison, paralyzing her from the waist down.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON, Shooting Victim: My mom, she came in and she told me, she was like: "Baby, I don't know how to tell you, but you can't walk."

CRAIG DEAN: I was very nervous.

Very scared.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Twenty-four years after the night that changed both their lives forever, these two would come back together again.

Were you surprised that she said, I'm willing to meet up with him?

CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What did you expect?

CRAIG DEAN: No, I never want to see him.

I'm in a wheelchair for life because of this person.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: It wasn't meant for me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That bullet.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: That -- it wasn't meant for me.

It was meant for somebody else.

Not saying that it's right.

It hit me, but it wasn't meant for me.

It was an accident.

We all make mistakes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Their tragic encounter came back in April 1999 in Miami's Overtown neighborhood.

CRAIG DEAN: I haven't been in this area, this whole neighborhood of in Overtown since I have been out.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: At the time, both of Craig Dean's parents had died from heavy drug use, orphaning him and his older brother.

Dean started selling cocaine.

CRAIG DEAN: You see stuff and, like, it is my only way of survival is selling drugs.

It's all you know.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But after being held up by a rival, the 17-year-old went looking for revenge.

That rival was the older cousin of Tiaquandra Addison.

At the time, Addison was a 13-year-old star basketball player.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I used to say I was going to be the first woman to make it to the NBA.

That was my dream, because I thought I was that... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Wait, not the Women's NBA... TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: No, but I.... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: ... the actual NBA?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes, I thought I was that good.

So... CRAIG DEAN: And the shooting took place like right here.

And that's where it all -- everything happened right there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That fateful night, Addison was out riding a bike with that cousin.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: And the minute I jumped off the bike, I just heard gunshots.

So I went to run, and I just felt the impact of that bullet.

It just -- I hit the wall and fell down and landed on a crate that was sitting on our porch.

I knew I was shot, but I didn't know... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: How bad?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After that night, she never walked again.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I went through depression.

Every now and then, I still go through it, but it's not as bad as it used to be.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Craig Dean was convicted of first-degree attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison.

CRAIG DEAN: I honestly changed an innocent person's life.

That was the hardest thing to, like, live with every day.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tiaquandra Addison is now 37, and lives in Orlando near her mother.

She has two sons, 3-year-old Nigel (ph) and 17-year-old Khaled (ph).

Addison says these boys are the silver lining of this tragedy.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Had it not happened, I probably wouldn't have my kids.

Who knows where I would have been?

I wouldn't trade them for the world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And, in 2010, when The Miami Herald interviewed her for a story about lifers who'd been sentenced as juveniles, like Craig Dean, she told the paper she didn't want him to stay in prison.

"Everybody deserves a second chance," she said.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: It was no point of me holding a grudge against him.

What would that do for me?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And so you don't hold any anger or resentment towards him and what he did?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: No, I really don't.

I understood it was the environment that we grew up in.

I was mad at the situation, not him.

CRAIG DEAN: And when I read her words, it brought me to tears.

That's the moment, like, my whole life changed, because I feel, if a person can forgive a person that took so much away from them, you can forgive anybody in this world.

JUDGE FRANK LEDEE, Broward County Circuit Court: She was never someone that was vengeful.

She didn't want revenge.

She didn't want any of that.

She just -- she knew that her life had been changed completely.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Frank Ledee was the prosecutor who put Craig Dean in prison for life.

He's now a circuit court judge in Broward County, Florida.

Ledee says it was because of Tiaquandra Addison that, in 2012, when Dean became eligible for a sentence reduction, he agreed.

JUDGE FRANK LEDEE: I deferred to Tia and what her wishes, because she was the one whose life was truly changed.

And I think that he's accepted responsibility for his actions.

He has paid his debt to society and that he deserves a chance at a life.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, in January of this year, Craig Dean got that second chance.

After 24 years behind bars, he was released from prison.

Since he's been out, the 41-year-old has tried to rebuild a relationship with his old girlfriend, Charmaine Hampton (ph).

CRAIG DEAN: She understands that, sometimes, I needed somebody just to talk to.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And he's reconnected with some family he lost touch with while locked up.

But much of these first few months has been a struggle.

He got a commercial trucking license, but his record has made it hard to land a job.

He set up a GoFundMe page, but, with no income, he can't afford a home.

More than anything, he says he wanted to meet Tiaquandra Addison.

CRAIG DEAN: It's the only way I feel I can move forward, is letting a person know how deeply sorry I am and grateful for the opportunity to meet them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, the "NewsHour" helped bring them together, and they allowed us to be present when they finally met, 24 years later.

CRAIG DEAN: It is good to meet you.

I would like to say a prayer with you, please.

I'm sorry.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, God, for this opportunity to be here and just meet you.

I know I did so much damage.

Words can't never change what I did.

And I am so sorry.

I'm a totally different person.

And I know ain't nothing I could do to change the path that I did, but only thing I can do is help somebody else not make the mistake I did, because I tell everybody I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.

Thank you.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: You're welcome.

CRAIG DEAN: Thank you.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I just knew you needed it.

So... CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I didn't want this following you around.

CRAIG DEAN: Yes.

I had a mind-set that I was going to die in prison.

And, really, everything in my whole life changed for you to just forgive me the way you have.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I was never mad at you.

You get what I mean?

Because I knew the environment we all grew up around.

But, for the most part, I wasn't mad at you.

CRAIG DEAN: I look at you as an angel.

God said, I'm going to bring you before one of my guardian angels, so you could meet them.

And I'm here today to meet an angel.

And I mean that.

I really do.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Can I ask you what this -- what that was like when she rolled in here?

CRAIG DEAN: It was like breathless.

It was like this -- I ain't never think the opportunity would come.

And it was like I just wanted her to know I was a different person from the person I was 24 years ago, and that we can change, and she believed that I can change.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: I could not let him carry that weight around.

(CROSSTALK) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The weight of guilt?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: What happened, yes, what happened to me.

You know what I mean?

It happened, and there is nothing that nobody can do about it.

I had to let him see that I am still living.

I still got people in my life that love me.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, I have been noticing you guys are hold -- have been holding hands for about 20 minutes now.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes, he is sincere.

I can feel it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Are you surprised how you feel?

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: Yes.

Not -- not really.

I didn't think I would be this comfortable with him, but I'm comfortable with him.

He has a good spirit.

I -- I like him.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the few weeks since their meeting, Dean and Addison say they have talked on the phone several times, and a friendship seems to be growing.

They hope one day to go out and speak publicly together to testify about the power of forgiveness and second chances.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.

TIAQUANDRA ADDISON: See you later.