Woman struck in head by stray bullet, killed while walking to supermarket in Manhattan
INWOOD, Manhattan (WABC) -- A family in Inwood is grieving the loss of a mother, wife and grandmother the day after Christmas.
Valeria Ortega, 64, was on a walk to the supermarket at 11:30 a.m. Monday when she was killed.
Police are looking for two people who fled on a moped who fired shots at another person, possibly in a car going by. The suspects were across Dyckman Street, just opposite Ortega as she was about to cross Vermilyea Avenue with her shopping cart.
As friends and family realized she never made, they consoled her grieving husband.
Vincente Garcia spoke on the phone to Eyewitness News to say she was 'buenisima - a very good woman, a doting mother' and as he put it, 'generous and kind almost too much for her own good.'
Vendor Luis Senfleur heard at least three gunshots and saw her collapse, quickly realizing there wasn't anything he could do.
"She wasn't moving, and it was in the head that she got hit," he said.
Ortega was shot once in the head - another bullet struck a parked vehicle, and another landed on the sidewalk.
"You've got a lot of people running around with guns, a lot of kids nowadays. Anyone could have a gun. You've gotta be careful. IT's sad. It could be anybody's mother or sister," said neighbor Raymundo Sepulveda.
"The best I could tell her is to be careful, you know, when she walks," he said.
Ortega had been a resident of the community for more than 30 years. The NYPD's 34 Precinct detectives are also investigating another shooting on nearby West 205th Street and whether it might be related - it happened only about 15 minutes later. The victim in the second shooting appeared to be targeted, shot inside an apartment. He is recovering as police continue to search for those who guys on the moped that fled the scene.
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