A woman who was shot while driving on Interstate 95 in Miami-Dade with her young son in the car still has the bullet lodged in her neck and believes she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The victim, a 33-year-old woman who did not want to be identified, told NBC6 by phone Tuesday that she was heading home from the store on I-95 southbound near Northwest 135th Street around 7 p.m. Monday when she heard a gunshot.
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"I heard a shot but I thought it was fireworks, and I saw a car like speed past and be really fast and jump in front of me," she said. "Then I heard a second shot and I felt like something hit me in the head, then I felt blood dripping."
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The woman, whose 5-year-old son was with her in the car at the time, said she saw a Road Ranger pulled over helping someone with a flat tire so she parked her car and ran up to him.
"Once I jumped out and saw the Road Ranger, I told him to help because I was hit, and he told me to apply pressure because he saw that the wound was in my neck," she said. "I got back to the car, got my son out and I just sat on the side of the highway on the grass and I just held my son and about 30 seconds later I saw the state troopers pulling up."
The woman was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in stable condition. Her son wasn't injured.
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"He was very strong, he didn't cry until he saw the state trooper's lights, kind of shook him up a bit. The whole ride to the hospital he was quiet, he even got his cellphone and called my family and started saying that momma got shot," she said.
The woman said she was still recovering in the trauma center and still had the bullet in her neck.
"As of right now the bullet is still in my neck and still too close to my spine to probably touch it," she said. "I'm waiting to hear from surgeons, I'm still in the trauma center."
She added that she believes she was caught in the crossfire of a shootout on the highway.
"It definitely was like a shootout on 95 South and I was just in the middle of the cars," she said. "It definitely was a shootout and I was just in the middle of it, wrong place, wrong time."
Authorities are searching for a white Honda sedan in connection with the shooting.
"I would hope that someone saw something or someone behind me called 311 and reported it or got a tag or something," the woman said.
The victim said she'd like to see cameras on all highways. She said she is thankful to be alive but hopes the people involved are caught.
It's very unfortunate but I'm thankful that it wasn't that bad. It's very scary, Miami is getting really dangerous," she said. "I'm just thankful and I just keep praying that God keeps watching over us."
