Valeria Ortega: NYC mom shot in the head while heading to supermarket with son
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: A New York City woman died on Monday after she was reportedly struck by a stray bullet while on her way to the supermarket with her son in Manhattan, according to the cops and her distraught husband who spoke about the tragic incident that took place on December 26.
At around 11.31 am, Valeria Ortega, 64, was shot in the head at Dyckman Street and Vermilyea Avenue, a few blocks from her Inwood home. The police said that she was taken to the Harlem hospital where she was pronounced dead, reports the New York Post.
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Weeping near the scene, her grieving husband Vicente Garcia spoke about his son saying “My son, he said, ‘Look at my mother’ … My child told me, ‘Look at my mother,'” according to the New York Post. Edgar Garcia, a clerk at a GNC store at the place where the shooting took place, told that he heard the shots fired, and when he went outside, on the sidewalk, he saw the bleeding victim lying helplessly.
“She had already fallen to the ground,” he said. “I just saw her lying there while blood was leading. … She was laying face-flat near her cart and I just saw the blood splattered," and told that he "didn’t see exactly where she got shot from. But other people were telling me they witnessed her getting shot in the head.”
Cops said that the horrifying violent stray bullet shooting took place, just minutes after a shooting incident where a 26-year-old man was shot and seriously injured about a half-mile away. The identity of the victim has not been revealed. He was shot at around 11.46 am while he was inside his apartment at 425 W. 205th St. and with life-threatening injuries, he was rushed to Harlem Hospital.
John Grimpel, the NYPD Lt. said, “There’s no motive on either [shooting] yet.” the spokesman added by saying that "they do not appear to be connected at this time.”
A nearby sidewalk vendor named Luis Senfleur told that he heard the fire that gunned down Ortega and then saw her “falling," and said that he "thought it wasn’t real, the shot.” He narrated the incident and said, “But when I saw her fall, I said … ‘They’re real.’ I was the one that was supposed to call immediately but I get nervous. You know, I’ve never been in this situation." Talking about the gun violence in the neighborhood, Senfleur said that “It’s getting worse. Over here especially.”
As per the New York Post report, cops said that it is likely that the victim Ortega who was hit by a stray shot was an innocent bystander. In either of the shooting cases, no arrests have been made so far. Investigators pointed out that a man clad in gray sweats was seen leaving the scene of the second shooting.