AKRON, Ohio — What started out as a routine trip to a grocery store turned into a terrifying ordeal after multiple bullets were fired into a car, injuring an Akron mother and her teenage daughter.
The hail of gunfire narrowly missed a one-year-old baby girl who was sitting in a car seat.
The 39-year-old mom, who didn't want her name revealed, said the shots were fired from another car, but she doesn't know who pulled the trigger.
"Whoever did it, they know they did it and they could have killed two innocent children and myself," she said.
The shooting unfolded in broad daylight just before 4 p.m. Monday on South Main Street near Steiner Avenue in Akron.
The woman told News 5 she was heading toward Marc's on Waterloo Road when more than a dozen shots were fired into her car.
She said it was not a case of road rage and there was no warning before the bullets were flying, shattering her car windows, and piercing the doors.
"I was in the left lane, got over into the right lane, and when I went through the light, the next thing I knew a car pulled alongside of us and opened fire," she said. "I don't know if it was random. I don't know. I don't know anything. I would like to know why, but that's probably an answer that I'll never get."
The mother was shot near in her right shoulder, hip and elbow. A bullet remains lodged in her collar bone, which continues to cause her a lot of pain.
The teen was shot in the arm and continues to cope with physical and emotional pain.
"My 16-year-old daughter is pretty traumatized behind the incident."
The mother initially thought her baby girl was also shot because she had blood on her face. It turned out a bullet went into a backseat just inches above the baby's car seat, but she was not hit by the gunfire.
"By the grace of God nothing hit her, just the glass and she's banged up with cuts and scratches from the glass splatter, but nothing hit her."
After the shooting, the mother ran to a nearby Church's Chicken where she called 911.
"Somebody shot up my car," she told the operator. "I'm shot in my arm. My daughter is shot in her arm also."
The mom and daughter were both treated at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
"I don't know what type of person would do something like that," the injured woman said. "Who hurt you to make you want to hurt someone else?"
Akron detectives are working on the case and looking for possible suspects. Anyone who witnessed the shooting or has information on the case is asked to call Akron detectives at 330-375-2490.
Summit County Crimestopper is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the shooter or shooters. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling 330-434-COPS.
