Times Square shooting: Mom shopping with teen daughter shot in foot

ByAnthony Johnson WABC logo

Monday, May 10, 2021

Mom shopping with daughter speaks out after Times Square shooting

The humble mother of three had taken her daughter to buy some K-pop merchandise when the unthinkable occurred.

PASSAIC, New Jersey (WABC) -- A bullet is still lodged in the left foot of Marcela Aldana who was injured when shots rang out in Times Square this weekend.

The humble mother of three had taken her daughter to buy some K-pop merchandise when the unthinkable occurred.

Aldana is originally from Mexico and came to New Jersey to provide a better life for her family.

She only speaks Spanish, so she was joined by Passaic Mayor Hector Lora on Monday to share her story.

"She heard shots and everyone began to run, she grabbed her daughter and as they were going she didn't even realize initially that she was hit, her daughter was asking her, 'are you OK, are you OK,' and she realized she was hit, that she couldn't move, they were holding onto each other," Lora said.

The 43-year-old victim said she heard the argument but never saw the shooter.

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After she was hit, she huddled with her daughter on the ground and was unable to move.

Aldana works at a tea factory and is the family's breadwinner. While her prognosis is good, she doesn't know when she will return to work.

But most of all, she wants the gunman taken into custody.

"She's concerned for other people because if this individual is capable of doing this, then what could occur with him out there free, he may shoot someone else and someone else could become a victim," Lora translated for Aldana.

Aldana says she usually visits the city in the summer and winter but was in the city this Mother's Day weekend because her daughter asked.

Now the 16-year-old feels guilty about what happened. But Aldana is more about her child than she is about her foot.

"Now she feels this overwhelming guilt of everything that occurred and it's difficult for her daughter, as her mother, she's worried for her," Lora said.

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