69-year-old woman with walker shot in face and killed in East Harlem
EAST HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- Police are searching for several people after a 69-year-old woman was fatally shot in East Harlem on Wednesday afternoon.
It happened at East 110th Street and Madison Avenue just before 12:30 p.m.
A city official said the victim, 69-year-old Robin Wright, was using a walker and was not the intended target.
She was shot in the face while standing on the sidewalk next to her friend, Juanita Arnold.
Arnold said she had gone across the street to grab takeout for lunch. Wright was just about to cross the street to go into her building.
"We were just coming from the Chinese restaurant, innocently, we didn't expect for any of this to happen," Arnold said.
Surveillance video shows Wright pushing her blue walker about a block or so from her apartment. Minutes later, that same blue walker would be left behind on the sidewalk next to bloody rubber gloves and yellow tape.
Arnold said the bullet came out of nowhere from a distance and there was no sign of any dispute or altercation at the time.
Police say a man who had just been mugged by two other men chased after them and started shooting. One of those bullets struck the victim who never saw it coming.
"I just laid down and watched her eyes," said eyewitness Sonya Hampton. "I said, 'Robin, I'm here, squeeze my hand.' And she squeezed it and I said, 'I won't leave you. I'm going to stay right here.'"
Police said Wright was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Eyewitness News spoke to the victim's partner Ron McNeil.
"I turned on the TV, and I saw, I saw somebody's walker, and I know she's got that old beat-up walker," said Wright's partner Ron McNeil. "I saw her this morning."
Wright was beloved in her East Harlem community.
"And she was a real caring soul," McNeil said. "She said hi to everybody. Everybody. Good morning. Good morning."
"She was a beautiful person, a wonderful person, she's well known in this community," Arnold said.
The mother and grandmother is now sadly the latest victim of a spate of gun violence impacting the city.
"What concerns me is that we have far too many guns on the street," said Councilman Yusef Salaam. "When I talk about those guns on the street, I'm talking about illegal guns."
Nearly two dozen shell casings were left behind from the shootout.
Police are still searching for all three men involved in the mugging and shooting.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
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