An 18-year-old woman was taken to the hospital on Tuesday night with moderate injuries after a bullet struck her in the 2000 block of 17th Street, according to police. Neighbors became concerned after a stray bullet hit their home, they said.
“I was sitting on my chair, watching TV and I heard this blast, what sounded like fireworks. I thought someone was still cracking fireworks in the neighborhood,” said Mary Quirino, a neighbor who said her house was hit by a stray bullet.
After she heard a louder blast nearby, Quirino checked her front door, where she saw the glass of her front door shattered. Neither her or her husband were hurt, but said it was an unsettling situation.
“It’s been happening around, not directly our neighborhood, but around the area, so it does concern us, you know? Nothing has ever happened like this at our house, at least nothing like this,” she said.
The woman was outside the home, when the suspect or suspects fired several shots at the home before driving off, police said. She was able to make it to a nearby gas station at 15th Street and University Avenue, where police said she called them for help.
Quirino worried for many people in the neighborhood, from her own family and the elderly to the college students living nearby.
“I mean it’s worrisome. I’ve lived in neighborhoods just as rough, so I can take care of myself. But other college students that haven’t lived in a neighborhood the same way, I feel like they would have a rough time dealing with it,” said Alex Marquette, a junior at Texas Tech University whose home was across the street from the shooting.
Meanwhile, other neighbors like Freddy Mallory, recognized this neighborhood as a safe and quiet place, and said the shooting was an isolated incident.
“It doesn’t make me fear for their actual safety, as much as their mental safety,” he said.
The Texas Anti-Gang Center is assisting Lubbock Police in the investigation. No arrests have been made.
