Innocent bystander, 73, struck by bullet in Bronx shooting
A 73-year-old woman was struck by a stray round while sitting outside of her Bronx apartment building during a possible gang related shooting Tuesday afternoon, police and sources said.
The woman, identified by sources and family as Lorreine Matthews, was shot in the ankle while sitting on a cement bench in front of 725 Garden Street after two men in a black sedan opened fire at about 4:20 p.m., according to cops.
The gunmen were aiming at a group of people that were standing near Matthews in what investigators believe was a gang-related incident, sources said.
Matthews was being treated at Saint Barnabas Hospital, according to officials and her daughter Adrianne Matthews.
“She was in front of her building and some guys got out of the car and just started shooting,” the daughter told The Post over the phone from the hospital.
“It was just her sitting down and another person,” she explained. “They just came and jumped out of the car and started shooting at them.”
“My mother’s doing — she’s doing better. The bullet went in and out.”
Bullets also flew into multiple nearby apartments, according to sources at the scene.
A 13-year-old girl was standing at the window in her apartment when shots came into the home, her mother said.
“The kids first thought it was fireworks and when my 13-year-old realized it wasn’t and glass shattered on her she dropped to the floor,” a resident told The Post.
“After that I ran to the room, we grabbed everyone out of the room. My older son said there’s glass and we waited in the hallway where there’s no windows,” she added.
“All we heard were people screaming. It had to be 15-20 shots.”
A bullet that went through a bedroom missed a bunk bed by inches, the woman said.
“It’s crazy you think your house is the safest place to be and at this point it’s not. The kids don’t want to stay here and we have no choice.”
The suspects fled the scene in their vehicle – identified by sources as a Honda Accord – and remained at large, according to police.
Police found 12 shell casings littered on the ground in the aftermath of the gunfire, sources said.
The scene of the shooting is less than two blocks from the Bronx Zoo. Earlier this month, a 55-year-old woman was shot four blocks away in broad daylight, steps away from the tourist attraction.
