Shooting Incident in Old Capital Injures Ambrosia Bernardez in the Shoulder
Ambrosa Bernardez
A woman was shot just before eight o’clock on Tuesday night. Thirty-four-year-old Ambrosa Bernardez of a North Creek address was not the intended target in an ongoing gang feud. She was sitting with friends at the entrance of an alley in Queen Square when a gunman fired shots in their direction. He missed his target, but Bernardez was injured on the shoulder and was taken to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where she remains in a stable condition. Police have not established the motive for the shooting nor has anyone been arrested. News Five’s Isani Cayetano spoke to the victim’s daughter and files this report.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A spray of bullets on Armadillo Street on Tuesday night has left a thirty-four-year-old woman hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the left upper shoulder. Ambrosia Bernardez was in the vicinity of a nearby alley, along with several others when gunfire erupted. The incident took place shortly before eight p.m. when a lone assailant emerged on the scene and discharged a barrage of rounds.
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett, Daughter of Shooting Victim
“The young man came last night, was looking for his target because he saw his target. He noticed that he couldn‘t catch his target so he turned around and point his gun on us. But to me his intention was to ketch someone and at the last bullet that he let go, that was the bullet that caught my mom in her arm.”
Andrea Polanco
“So approximately how many shots he fired?”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“About twenty-one.”
Andrea Polanco
“Twenty-one shots and your mom was the only one who got injured.”
Simbiat Garnett
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“The last shot.”
Andrea Polanco
“You were mentioning to me that your mom could have been killed last night. Explain to me what happened.”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“She could have been killed, but at the end of the day that‘s my mom. I won‘t watch her die like that, so all I did, all of us were out there, seven of us were out there and when I noticed the gunman came, all I did, I told my mom lay down. My mom said, “Weh happen?” I tell ahn, “mom, gunman, lay down.” So she tell me, “Okay then.” And I hauled her down, hauled down my little brother and my little sister too. So when I already finished with that my mom looked and tell me, but I sih di gunman and I look pan ahn and tell ahn yes, di gunman noh finish yet. So when my ma get up and di last shot weh di man let go, that dah weh ketch my ma because she mi expect ih mi done gaan. So dat da di last shot and when ih get up and di young man, when di young man done di man seh, “sorry mommy.”
According to Bernardez’s daughter who also witnessed the shooting, the gunman seemed to have been aiming at her mother’s head. The shooting, she says, is gang-related.
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“All I do dah shub my ma down because then I noh wahn di bullet hit ahn eena ih head so I shub ahn weh ih could hit ahn somewhere else weh ih wahn safe.”
Andrea Polanco
“Now the target who as at that area, he wasn‘t hurt in any kind of way?”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“No, because when I saw the gunman I explained to him that the gunman di come and he managed to get away, but we neva know di gunman mih wahn shift di gun pan we.”
Andrea Polanco
“He knew that someone had a target on his back?”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“Because dehn, di boys them and different area noh gree with each other.”
Andrea Polanco
“So it‘s a gang rivalry.”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“….gang rivalry.”
Residents of the area are fearful that the gunman will return to wreak havoc in the neighborhood once again.
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“I think he will come back because he wasn‘t supposed to ketch my mom so when he comes back he will come for the right person.”
Andrea Polanco
“Now he knows that you all saw his face, is that also a concern for you?”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“Yes, but when ih come back I noh think ih wahn attack we, ih wahn attack di person weh ih come fah.”
Andrea Polanco
“Can you share with me how your mom is doing?”
Voice of: Simbiat Garnett
“Well she is okay, ih wahn do wahn surgery one o‘clock and her shoulder blade has broken.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
