Woman shot near Oakland's Fox Theater recounts harrowing experience
A 27-year-old woman shot in the leg during a triple shooting in Oakland on Mother's Day is speaking out.
Two men were also wounded in the attack.
The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A woman who was among three victims shot early on Mother's Day in Uptown Oakland said the violence came without warning.
"Arm comes out the window, followed by sounds," recalled Drea Avaloz.
What we know
Those sounds were gunshots, eight to 12 of them, fired from a car near the Fox Theater.
Avaloz and her friend hit the deck near 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue around 1 a.m. on May 11. That's when Avaloz realized she had been shot in the left leg. The bullet narrowly missed her bone.
"I felt my leg burning," she said. "I saw my pants frayed, and I just thought in my head, 'Please God, just let that be the only one.' And I was hoping the next one wasn't going to be, you know, like a lights-out situation."
Avaloz did a quick scan.
"I was like checking my torso, checking my neck and my head, because I just didn't know if I got hit anywhere else," she said. "My adrenaline, my energy was so high."
She soon realized two men had also been shot and wounded.
Avaloz still has a bullet lodged in her leg. Doctors were busy that night with more pressing emergencies. They were also worried about nerve damage and didn't want to worsen her condition by attempting removal immediately.
She was discharged from the hospital and will follow up with her primary care doctor and a specialist to remove the bullet later.
What we don't know
As she recovers, Oakland police continue to investigate the shooting.
No arrests have been made, and a motive is still unknown.
"It almost seemed like they were just swinging their arm around and just pulling the trigger," Avaloz said. "It also sounded like a modified handgun. It wasn't regular."
Avaloz would know. She works as an armed guard and loves her job. But these days she's off work, in pain, and using a cane and a walker to get around.
A week after the shooting, she turned 27 — a milestone that now feels bittersweet.
"It's just frustrating that somebody I don't even know would be living their life and just carry on if they had taken my life," she said.
Now, after surviving the shooting, Avaloz has a message for the person who pulled the trigger: "One day, you know, if you continue on, you will be responsible for the taking of a life, and you will have robbed somebody of their entire future and their potential," she said.
Avaloz has set up a GoFundMe to help defray medical costs.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan
The Source
KTVU reporting, Oakland police
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