Oct 1, 2008 6:36 pm US/Eastern
71-Year-Old Woman Hit By Stray Bullet In Brooklyn
Victim Was Just Walking Home From Church When She Was Hit; Residents Want Bigger Police Presence
BROOKLYN (CBS) ―
Another innocent person was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A 71-year-old Brooklyn woman has become the latest victim of a stray bullet.
East Flatbush has been swarming with extra police since Tuesday night, focusing in on even minor things that would usually get just a warning. There! Look! Outside that store! A quick frisk of his boots and socks and a man was taken away in a van, not so much for what he may have done, but to see if he has information to trade about Tuesday night.
The reason for all the heightened awareness -- heightened tension, if you will -- is that a 71-year-old woman was shot as she was walking home from church. Police said she was just grazed, and is going to be fine. But it was the proverbial "stray" bullet, and in the last two months three people have been shot by "stray" bullets in Brooklyn. And folks here have a lot to say about that.
"That tells me that we're not doing enough to get these illegal handguns off the street," said Robert Williams, who was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
A CrimeStoppers van loudspeaker could be heard in the streets of East Flatbush on Wednesday:
"A female, while walking home from church, was shot and seriously wounded."
On Aug. 5, teenagers Luis Gonzalez and Johnathan Frazier were arrested for shooting at each other across a street but hitting 9-year-old Shamshawan Kelly instead. On Sept. 13, 10-year-old Denia Kearse was shot by a stray bullet at a block party. Also that day, 8-year-old boy was shot by a stray bullet in Far Rockaway as he was getting into a car with his mother.
And now there is the 71-year-old woman from Tuesday night.
"It's really terrible," said John Dowling of East Flatbush. "These people are running around -- young kids -- with guns. And they don't care where they shoot."
People here told CBS 2 HD they'd like to see a heavier police presence before a shooting, and not just after. Police responded: We're on it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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