Atlanta, GA
Atlanta woman hit by stray bullet while inside watching tv with brother
Woman randomly shot while watching TV
An Atlanta mother was shot in the neck when a bullet came flying into her apartment. She was relaxing with family on her couch when it happened.
ATLANTA – An Atlanta man says he and his sister were sitting on her couch watching TV when the unthinkable happened.
“Next thing you know, we hear a loud ‘pow,’ like a gunshot,” Cornelius McElrathbey told FOX 5. “It’s was a day that I will never forget.”
His sister, Brittany, was hit by a stray bullet that came crashing through her living room. The bullet’s path through the window to the couch where she was sitting and through the wall can still be seen.
“I came back up, and I seen blood coming from her nose,” Cornelius said.
A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the shooting.
The video shows a black car, possibly a Dodge Challenger, speeding by.
Cornelius said he tried to call for help, but 911 put him on hold. He ended up driving his sister to Grady Memorial Hospital, and he carried her inside himself.
“And one thing that kept going through my mind at the time, you know, she said, ‘Don’t let me die.’” he recalled.
Brittany’s other brother, Ray McElrathbey, says the bullet did some serious damage.
“She had a broken neck, broken jaw, [and] broken nose. There was several facial fractures, whatever, because the bullet went through her neck and came out at the bridge of her nose,” he said.
Miraculously, Ray says his sister is likely to make a full recovery.
“Her neck’s broke, but she’s not paralyzed. Jaw broke, but she can still talk. Her eye socket is broke, but she can still see. Her nose is broke, but she can still smell,” he said.
But, he says his sister is also suffering with symptoms of PTSD.
Now, these brothers just want the person who fired the shot to be brought to justice.
Atlanta police say the car had a license plate number of CRD4432.
That same neighbor’s surveillance video also showed a man getting into that car shortly before the shooting.
Both brothers say they can’t fully relax until police find and arrest this person.
“It don’t make no sense. This [is] out of nowhere. He had the wrong place, and my problem is, well, I’m a little nervous about … how do we know if … if he’s going to come back or not,” Cornelius said.
If you recognize the man or the license plate number, Atlanta police ask that you give them a call.
As Brittany recovers from this traumatic experience, the family is trying to find a new apartment for her.