Brooklyn mom shot while picking up daughter from day care

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Woman shot picking up daughter from day care

Rob Nelson spoke exclusively with a Brooklyn woman caught in the crossfire as she picked up her daughter from a daycare program.

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT (WABC) -- A mother in Brooklyn is recovering after being shot in the leg.

She was caught in the crossfire as she walked to pick up her daughter from daycare.

It was Elena Portillo's normal routine Tuesday afternoon, picking up her daughter from a daycare program in Bed-Stuy along Quincy Street.

According to police, just feet away on the same block, a bodega clerk and two suspects were exchanging gunfire during an attempted robbery.

A 19-year old worker was shot in the chest during the melee, but managed to follow the suspects and fire back.

24-year old Elena, who spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News Wednesday but did not want to go on camera, was caught in the crosshairs.

"They shot me on my leg," she said through a translator. "I felt bad when I saw my leg. I began to scream, and I saw that my leg had been shot. I thought they were going to keep shooting me."

Elena was shot in the left leg and eventually collapsed on the front steps of the center before being taken to the hospital.

The daycare was put on lockdown and no bullets made it inside.

"I went to the school to get help," said Elena. "I saw three men who were running. They were around 23 or 20 years of age. They got in a car and they left."

Meanwhile, one bullet is still lodged in her leg and it could be two months before she's able to return to work as a housekeeper.

The robbery suspects are still on the loose, but Elena has greater worries..taking care of her two young daughters in the midst of ongoing fears about crime in her neighborhood.

She simply wants more to be done. "Sometimes I take kids out to the park and it can happen again. They should have more surveillance in the parks, there are a lot of kids in the parks and the summer is just beginning."

Daycare officials say violence in the area, sadly, is nothing new.

"Security has to be beefed up because we serve 106 children here, 30 over there, and it's happening throughout the community," said daycare administrator Michele Charles.