Long Island family speaks out after mom, daughter shot in 2 separate incidents
HEMPSTEAD, Long Island (WABC) -- A family on Long Island is speaking out after narrowly escaping tragedy from gun violence twice in six months.
Dozens of shots were fired just feet away from homes in Hempstead on Monday. Radaih Simmons, was one of three people shot.
The 30-year-old mother of two was caught in the crossfire on Evans Street Monday night after returning home from the grocery store around 9 p.m.
The Hempstead school employee says she was bringing in groceries when dozens of gunshots rang out.
Simmons said she was walking to her car when she got shot.
"It went in right here and it came out right here," she said. "I got a hole right here and I got a hole right here."
Just minutes prior, her children were getting out the car.
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"Oh my god. That, I don't want to even think about that," Simmons said.
But it's not the first time she had to.
Four months ago in March, her 7-year-old daughter Iliyana, was shot in her arm while playing in their backyard.
"I really don't know how to explain it and the fact that that it was on the same street, probably like five feet from where my daughter got shot," Simmons said.
Simmons' mother Patricia Murphy says her granddaughter, Iliyana has been traumatized again.
"Iliyana starts shaking and screaming like 'oh my god they trying to kill us. Why are they trying to kill me and my mommy. what's gonna happen?'" Murphy said.
She says it's another stark wake up call for a change.
"I'm disgusted. I'm disappointed. I'm outraged. I'm tired," Murphy said.
"We need to move. We need help. We have to get out of here," Simmons said.
Simmons and her mother are too scared to return home, so they are staying at a nearby hotel.
Snug, or guns spelled backwards, is a local gun violence prevention group paying for their stay.
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