2 women hit by stray bullets in Laurelton home speak out
LAURELTON, Queens (WABC) -- Two women were grazed by stray bullets while sitting inside their home in Queens Wednesday night, and now, they're speaking out about the terrifying ordeal.
The gunfire is believed to come from right outside the house on 136th Street at 220th Place in Laurelton, just before midnight while several people were sleeping inside.
Mavis Claggett, 84, and her friend Beulah Clarke, 72, were in the kitchen when a gunfight started outside. By the time police arrived, the gunmen were gone.
Claggett, bandaged and shaken, returned to her home that she had felt safe in for nearly 40 years, until now.
"Gun shot, and then the blood started to run down," she said. "When I look over, I see four more gunshots."
Her friend, visiting from Jamaica, was right by her side, washing dishes.
"Shot right through the house, all through the bedroom they shot," Clarke said.
Clarke was grazed in the elbow, while Claggett was grazed in the shoulder. They were panicked, seeing blood everywhere.
"When I was shot, I was almost dead," Claggett said.
Police say the women were not the intended targets.
"We are innocent," Clarke said. "We are old people. We don't make trouble."
They have no idea what events transpired that led up to the shooting.
"I don't know who shot me," Claggett said. "We don't have any arguments with anyone. We are old people living at the house."
The gunfire caught everyone off guard in the normally quiet neighborhood.
"I heard, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,' and I opened the door and I said, 'What the hell is going on?'" one neighbor said. "I heard a car pass by, you know, ran off."
Police are continuing to search for the gunmen.
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