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Harlem Grandmother Latest to Take a Stray Bullet
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 19, 2009
Modified Nov 19, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 19, 2009
Modified Nov 19, 2009
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A 66-year-old Harlem woman became the second victim of stray gunfire this week in NYC. Virginia Valree was walking along Lenox Avenue in Harlem around 3:30 p.m. yesterday, carrying potatoes to deliver to a sick friend, when a bullet struck her left leg and knocked her into traffic on West 135th Street. "I'm horrified. All I know is I was just standing there and my leg gave in," Valree told the Daily News from her hospital bed last night. "I was on the ground. I was laying there saying, 'Somebody stop the traffic!' because I didn't want to get run over."
Police believe the shot came from a nearby altercation, but no arrests have been made. Street vendor Mohamed Gendia says, "There was shouting right by me ... then I heard a shot." The suspects then ran in opposite directions along Lenox Avenue. The bullet fractured a bone in Valree's leg, and doctors will operate on her to remove it, but she's in otherwise stable condition.
Monday's victim of stray gunfire wasn't so lucky; 15-year-old Vada Vasquez is in a medically-induced coma after a stray bullet struck her in the head. At least seven people have been killed by stray bullets so far this year, compared to four people fatally shot by errant bullets in 2008.
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crime
grandmother
gun violence
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harlem
nyc
stray bullet
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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