SEATTLE — Edith Oppenheimer was driving near South Jackson Street and 4th Avenue South when she was shot in the face with a pellet.
She was with her daughter and grandchildren after visiting Pike Place Market on Friday.
“I felt something hit my cheek, and it hurt, and I screamed. And then it screamed again. I was like, ow,” Edith said. “I put my hand to my face and there was just blood everywhere.”
Oppenheimer told KIRO 7 she didn’t know what hit her. She says it happened just after 5 p.m. when police arrived.
“They found a pebble in my car, like a little rock, and they were like, well, maybe this hit you,” she explained.
Oppenheimer says she drove home to Tacoma before she was dropped off at the hospital. It wasn’t until she got there that she realized it was not a rock that struck her.
“They said, there’s metal in your cheek, I started shaking and kind of crying. And then when they pulled it out, it was worse,” she described.
Doctors found a pellet lodged inside Oppenheimer’s face that broke her cheekbone.
“My cheekbones stopped it from going in into my head,” she continued.
Still in shock, she says it started to set in that a small piece of metal could’ve meant life or death.
“If they had shot me and it had hurt me more. I could have crashed the car It could have hurt my family other families and other cars or people on the sidewalk,” Oppenheimer said.
Oppenheimer says if it happened even a few seconds later, it could’ve hit her young granddaughters.
“What if it had hit them? Why would somebody do it? So I just hold this and I look at it. It’s surreal.”
In a post on Facebook, her daughter says Edith was in the emergency room for about seven hours.
Oppenheimer is asking people to help her find the shooter so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“Whoever did this, get help because this isn’t right and it’s not okay,” she said.
Watch KIRO 7 News at 5 p.m. for the full interview.
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