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Teen Who Took Stray Bullet To The Head Home For Christmas
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 23, 2009
Modified Dec 23, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 23, 2009
Modified Dec 23, 2009
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The Bronx teen who was caught her in the crossfire of a gang shooting is on the mend and home for Christmas, after spending over a month in the hospital. 16-year-old Vada Vasquez was waiting for a bus with a friend on November 16th when she got caught in the line of fire between a baby-faced shooter and his intended target. The bullet entered her brain and she was kept in medically-induced coma for weeks. But now Vasquez is on the mend, and yesterday she spoke for the first time about the shooting:
When I fell, I didn't actually know if I got shot because I didn't feel it. I saw all the blood, and when I was trying to get up, they were telling me I can't get up. [A paramedic] was holding my hand. I was just really happy he was holding my hand the whole time even while I was on the [ground]... He said he had to let go because they were going to have the surgery...
I could hear [my mother] talking to me. She'd say, 'I love you. That you're going to be better. You can do this.' That made me get better. Her talking made me want to open my eyes.
As if the interview wasn't already heartbreaking, Vasquez played Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" for reporters on her guitar. Her speech is still slightly "stunted," so she'll be home-schooled and receive outpatient therapy until her speech improves. But, miraculously, her doctors expect her to make a full recovery without brain damage. She told her mother and sisters she didn't want anything for Christmas, just to come home. "I didn't think I was ever going to see my mom and my sisters again," Vasquez told the Daily News. "I'm so happy I'm finally better. I feel blessed."
As for the 16-year-old who allegedly shot her, Vasquez said, "I don't even want to see him. I'm just happy that he's in jail. He's going to be there a long time. For me, I'm just going to be happy. I'm going to be back to being free, not like them... It was really stupid. It happened at 3:45p.m. I didn't think people would be shooting at 3:45p.m." Below, video from Vasquez's interview:
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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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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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