A young woman walking to church last Thursday afternoon was fired at after she says she turned down a stranger when he asked her for her phone number.
The 22-year-old victim called police at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday October 19. She told officers she was walking on Washington near 75th Street in Waldo when two men in a car pulled up next to her.
"I was just crossing the street. I heard someone yell at me from the car, like it happened, so I just kind of ignored it and kept walking," she said.
She said she got suspicious, so she pulled out her cell phone and called her mom so she'd have someone to talk with while she walked. The woman said that's when the driver pulled back around, next to her.
"He was like, 'Can I have your number?' I said no and kept walking. So he kind of pulled up a little bit in front of me and then shot at the ground right next to me," the victim recalled.
She said he pulled out a handgun, fired a shot toward her feet, then yelled at her in a nasty tone, warning her that she "better watch how she talks to people."
"I was just kind of shocked because obviously you don’t expect that to happen," she said.
She said next, the men sped off; her mother was still on the other end of the phone call.
"She just kind of heard me stop talking, and then she heard the gunshot, and she just was like, 'What was that? What was that? What was happening?'"
Her mother was at the church where the victim was headed and came running toward her daughter. No one got hurt, but the woman said the gunshot will ring in her ears and her mind for a long time.
"I know it’s going to take a while, but I hope it doesn’t stop me from living my life," she said.
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