Jamaican Granny Shot While Sitting In Her Walker In Brooklyn

In an unfortunate event, an 84-year-old Jamaican woman was shot while she was sitting in her walker in Brooklyn on Monday. She spoke to CBS New York on Tuesday evening.

The woman who is a cancer survivor was struck by a stray bullet while sitting in her walker.

“It’s a miracle,” Althea Lawson said from her hospital bed.

“I don’t have enough tongue to tell God thanks I’m still here today. Thank God it never hit me in my head!”

It all went down on the corner of Brooklyn and Foster avenues just before 7 p.m. Police said a gunfight left Lawson struck twice by stray bullets. Lawson said she was wrapping up a visit with friends. “When I turned to go to my house I hear this big explosion pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” she said.

Enid Lawson, 88, who initially identified the victim as her sister, said she got a frantic phone call while she was sitting outside talking to friends. “Somebody called and says she got shot,” Enid Lawson recalled. “I was nervous. I wondered where she got shot?”

The two sisters are originally from Jamaica and live together in the same apartment building.

Carine Scott, the victim’s daughter, said her mother always tries to mentor youth in the neighborhood.

“If you’re a bad person, she would stop and say ‘Young man, don’t do that. That’s not right,'” Scott said. “Too many guns.”

“It was like so the first volley was four or five shots then the second volley was eight or nine shots. But real fast so it was hard to count,” one first responder who asked not to be identified told The New York Post.

“It was a lot of blood – It was on her arm, just two shots on her left forearm,” they said.

“It didn’t go through. Me and one of my friends, he took off his shirt and then his undershirt and tied it on her arm and I held it and tightened it. It slowed the bleeding but it didn’t stop.

“She was saying, ‘They shot me! They shot me!’”

According to reports, approximately 14 shots were fired, which the police have attributed to a conflict between rival gangs in the area.

The victim’s sister, 88-year-old Enid Lawson, said the two have lived together for about four years.

“I spoke to her last night on the phone. She say she got shot,” the older sibling said.

“She say she looked down and see all the blood spilling down and that’s when she knew. She knew she was shot when she see the blood. Then she say that she can’t speak much longer.”

Enid Lawson described her sister as “the funny one” of the two, and is always in a good mood.

Family members told local news sources that Althea Lawson was recovering at the hospital. Video showed the frantic moments after gunfire broke out on the East Flatbush street corner, near the Flatbush Gardens apartment complex.

Immediately after the shooting, a neighbor said he raced to help Lawson. “She was not panicking. She was in good spirits, actually joking, saying, ‘They shot me, they shot me,'” the neighbor recalled.

Althea Lawson, a cancer survivor, is recovering at the hospital. She spoke to news stations on Tuesday evening. Considering what she went through, she was in good spirits.

“Jesus saved me. He’s a good guy,” Lawson said.

“She’s the happy one. I am not like her. She will go outside and sit there and talk to everyone. I don’t want to walk in this neighborhood,” she said.

“She makes jokes, she’s a fun person. She’s always talking to everyone. I hope I might see her soon.”

A good Samaritan, along with his friend, rushed to Lawson’s aid. “He took off his shirt, give it to me, told me to apply pressure. Applied to her arm to stop the bleeding. We kept her calm. She was very strong about it. She was not even panicking,” he said.

They called 911. When first responders arrived, they took Lawson into a waiting ambulance and rushed her to Kings County Hospital in stable condition. She said her left hand is in pain whenever she moves it. “My arm is bothering me,” Lawson said.

“Thank God for his mercy, I’m still here among this living,” she added.

Police are still piecing together what exactly led up to this shooting incident, as multiple bullets sprayed the street. As many as 20 shell casings were found at the scene. Eyewitness News was told this may have been a shootout between two groups.

The victim was taken to Kings County Hospital where she’s expected to survive. Her family tells us the 84-year-old’s name is Althea Lawson, a cancer survivor with a bright personality.