A San Antonio mom and her teen daughter were shot inside a Bronx bodega while visiting New York on Sunday, July 17.
Beatriz Jimenez and her 13-year-old daughter Jehieli Duran had just arrived from San Antonio, Texas, when bullets suddenly struck them on the corner of Southern Boulevard and Jennings Street during a dispute around 9 p.m.
In an interview, the injured teen told the New York Post that she was very excited to visit New York. That excitement has now disappeared, as the incident that met her on her first day in New York changed her perspective on the city that never sleeps.
Family traumatized by New York shooting experience
She added they just never expected it to happen in New York. A bullet tore through the teenager's hand and grazed her neck, while a bullet also nicked her mom's chest after the gunfire erupted on the street outside.
Duran recalled it was terrifying, saying that she had just heard a bullet, and suddenly her mother pulled her down and ran to the back of the store. The 46-year-old mom thought she had lost her child, saying it was scary because she saw her daughter bleeding from her neck and thought the bullet had gone in. Jimenez said that as a mother, she thought her child would die.
Duran's dad and her two siblings were also inside the bodega when the shooting happened. She said both of her siblings were crying because of the incident. Cops said that just moments before the mom and daughter were struck, a 22-year-old woman, who was walking her dog, was also shot in the leg with a stray bullet blocks away from the bodega.
Authorities believe both shootings are linked, but no arrests have been made by the police yet, according to CBS News. Sources told the media outlet that two armed men on Citibikes were firing guns at a fleeing vehicle when the three innocent females got caught in the crossfire.
12 people shot in a bloody six-hour stretch in NYC
Jimenez and Duran were treated at the Jacobi Hospital before being released early on Monday. Police said the other injured woman was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital and is now in stable condition.
According to police, the three innocent bystanders were among 12 people who were shot across New York City in a bloody six-hour stretch on Sunday night. Spectrum News reported that five people were shot in as many incidents on Saturday, compared to seven people being shot in six incidents in 2021. Friday saw nine people shot in six separate incidents, compared to the same number of victims in seven incidents on that day in 2021.
