A 72-year-old woman is recovering in a Fort Worth hospital after being shot nine times while sleeping in her home in what her family described as an apparent random attack.
The shooter remains at large, and no motive has been identified, according to Fort Worth police, Fox 4 KDFW reported.
The shooting occurred just after 2 a.m. on May 16 in the 6400 block of Shasta Trail, near Brookhaven Trail and Altamesa Boulevard in southwest Fort Worth. Police responded to a 911 call from the victim’s grandson, who lives in the home, reporting that his grandmother had been shot.
According to the 911 call sheet, officers were told that someone walking between the victim’s house and a neighboring property fired the shots, striking the woman on her right side through her bedroom wall. Video of the scene shows a window screen riddled with bullets and shattered glass from the bedroom window.
The woman, whose identity is being withheld by her family due to the suspect still being at large, was taken to a hospital in serious condition, according to MedStar. Her nephew, Rod Smith, told Fox 4 that she was shot nine times and underwent her fourth surgery on Wednesday. He said she is now alert and talking but faces additional surgeries as she continues her recovery.
“We don’t understand why they went to her bedroom and her house,” Smith said, per Fox 4. “It’s hard to process. Just knowing she was shot, and the person she is. Not in any trouble, not in any violent thing.”
Fort Worth police confirmed that the department’s gang unit and gun violence division are investigating the shooting, but no arrests have been made. Authorities have not disclosed whether the home was specifically targeted or provided a potential motive for the attack.
Smith, who remains by his aunt’s side, expressed shock and gratitude that she survived the ordeal.
He urged the community to help identify the suspect, saying, “Let’s rally around, identify this person. Get this person off the street so it doesn’t happen to your auntie, your grandmother, your sister. I am willing to do that. I am willing to take that chance.”
The family is still searching for answers about why the woman was targeted. Smith said he is waiting for updates from police and remains hopeful that the suspect will be apprehended.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Fort Worth Police Department at (817) 392-4222.