Just two weeks ago, 24-year-old Christine McCoy was shot in the face while shopping at the Garden Valley Food Mart on East 79th Street and Kinsman Avenue.
McCoy, who was nine months pregnant at the time, told her terrifying story to our Tiffani Tucker after being released from the hospital, a miraculous survivor of a dire ordeal.
“When they told me I was shot I remember I looked up and saw the line of blood,” said McCoy.
Surveillance video shows her waiting in line to buy some groceries. All of the sudden she falls to the ground, the victim of stray gunfire from a gun fight outside.
“I didn’t hear a shot. I didn’t feel the shot. After I was told I was shot, I didn’t feel no pain,” McCoy said.
A store employee along with friends rushed to McCoy’s aid.
“It went through this side and it stopped at the back of my neck. At the top of my spine at my soft tissue,” McCoy said as she described her injuries. “I remember talking to God. What’s going on, why can’t I open my eyes?”
McCoy had an emergency C-section and gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Terahje.
“I just remember them telling me they’re about to give me a C-section and I remember telling him ‘No you’re not, I’m about to push this baby out,’ like you’re not about to cut me Mr. Doctor,” McCoy said.
McCoy says her strength comes from God, knowing that she and her baby might not have made it. She added that several of her friends have also been victims of violence, shot and killed in the neighborhood in the past year alone.
Now this mother and survivor has a message for others. A simple message that could have a profound impact on the community.
“We need to stop the violence,” pleaded McCoy.
The gunshot left her deaf in one ear. Police are still searching for the shooters. The community is working to set up a fund for her family, and held a rally for her tonight near the area of the shooting.
