A New York City woman who looked through her door peephole was shot in the eye Monday evening. The woman, identified as Rena Gatewood, went to check who was knocking at her door and got the shock of her life as she saw the barrel of a gun aimed at the peephole as a bullet shot through, injuring her left eye.
New York City Police reported that the 37-year-old woman heard a knock at her apartment unit at the Frederick Douglass Houses in Columbus at about 7:40 pm. Emergency response personnel were called to the apartment by a neighbor who heard the shot followed by the screams of the woman.
Hector Martinez, 55, who lives in a unit directly below the victim recalled the incident, “There was a shot, and then the woman was screaming. It was a single shot.” Martinez said he heard Gatewood scream, “Call 911! Call 911!'” as he described the incident, “It's crazy. Nothing like this has happened in this building."
Paramedics rushed the woman to St. Luke’s Hospital and she is reported to be in stable conditions. It is unclear if she has suffered a bullet wound in her eye or sustained injury from shrapnel that was blown off from the peephole. Police officers who responded to the scene found one shell casing while investigators are currently searching for possible video evidence of the suspect.
According to PEOPLE, the said woman had been living in the building for 18 years. An unnamed neighbor disclosed she has twin boys who had just turned 1 year and works as a security guard. The motive of the shooting is not yet known as neighbors who have spoken to media to described the victim to the media as not particularly sociable and hardly mixed with other people within the building.
“She's a good woman, a very good woman. She goes to work and takes care of her kids.” a neighbor told the New York Daily News.
A resident was baffled at the thought of anyone wanting to harm the victim and said that "nothing like this has ever happened" before. No arrests have been made by police at this time and no other details on the incident are immediately available.
