It was a quiet Monday night, about 9:30, when Thelma Causey walked out on her front porch in Kingsessing for some fresh air.
A few moments later, she saw a young man who appeared to be fleeing down the alleyway, then heard several gunshots from across the street and felt something in her left thigh.
She was hit by a ricochet bullet.
"When I turned around I heard a pop and I just felt a little twinge and I did like that," she said, reaching for her leg. "It felt warm and I looked down my pant leg and I was bleeding," Thelma said.
She was rushed to the hospital where her flesh wound was treated and she was released, without even demanding a Tylenol for pain.
She never saw the gunman. Her block on 51st is normally quiet, but she does frequently hear gunfire in the area.
"I've heard them, but not right here in this block," she said.
As a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of two, this widow of 30 years has a firm sense of family and, she believes, the breakdown of the family structure is what most contributes to violence among young people.
"They don't know no better. A lot of these children don't have the proper upbringing, I'm very sorry to say," said Thelma.
Thelma had hoped to return to her job at West Philadelphia High School this week, but when she woke up the next morning feeling pain in her leg, she decided that at 86 years old she's entitled to take a little extra time off.
There have been no arrests in her case so far, but this pillar in her local church says she has no fear of sitting on the porch of the home she has known for 46 years.
