Victim speaks out who was struck by stray bullet involving a triple shooting

Christie Ileto Image
Saturday, May 30, 2020
Victim speaks out who was struck by stray bullet
In the city's Grays Ferry section, police responded to a triple shooting where one victim was struck by a stray bullet.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In the city's Grays Ferry section, police responded to a triple shooting where one victim was struck by a stray bullet.

"just random pop pop pop," said Lisa Pray. "The fact that it was moving closer to the house-made me realize I need to get down."

Immediately sliding off her bed, Pray says she did her best to avoid the gunfire.

But a stray bullet pierced her second-floor bedroom window as someone sprayed bullets at 24th and Reed Street Thursday night, hitting an 18 and 22-year-old.

Pray lives a block away from the crime scene.

"It took a minute for my brain to process what happened," said Pray.

"I heard the ting and saw that it went through the window seal, then I looked at my sheets and saw a hole," she said.

The bullet lodged in Pray's mattress, while her leg began to gush in blood.

It was a violent scenario that played out all across the city over the last 24 hours.

At least three people were killed, nine others injured in seven separate shootings in a three-hour span. Including a 27-year-old man killed in a quadruple shooting in West Philadelphia.

The youngest victim, a 14-year-old who was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery by an 18-year-old in the city's Germantown section.

"The fear and the concern is definitely that it's going to get worse," said Taj Murdock of Men of Courage.

With summer weeks away and the lockdown in full swing, Murdock says mentoring programs for kids are more important than ever.

"A lot of the young people don't have opportunities," said Murdock. "They're not seeing opportunities, they're seeing life outside their door and then you have them confined to this. So they're just reacting to what they see."

Pray says the undercurrent of crime is taking its toll on her. "I'm tired, I'm tired," Pray said. "To say that it's going to get better, I don't see that happening."