TACOMA, Wash. — A Tacoma woman is on the road to recovery after a group of gunmen opened fire on her house, hitting her multiple times.
She told KIRO 7 she is lucky to be alive and has almost fully recovered. The worst injury was to her foot, where a bullet went completely through.
The attack left mental scars as well.
“I can’t even describe the pain,” 21-year-old Emma Taylor said. “It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt.”
Taylor was awoken by bursts of rapid gunfire around 4 in the morning on February 24. She was sleeping at her parents’ house in Tacoma’s South End and thought at first she was hearing explosions. Then she felt pain in her chest and the air mattress she was sleeping on started deflating.
“I didn’t know how I was injured, how bad it was or anything,” she said.
More than 50 bullets were fired into the home. On top of the foot injury, Taylor was grazed by five other bullets. She was rushed to the hospital and left unable to walk for about a week.
She is now staying with her sister and doesn’t know if she will ever feel safe returning to her parents’ house.
“I’ve been back to the house to get some of my stuff and just being in the room, seeing the bullet holes, thinking of the what if,” she said. “If I was laying any other way in bed, if I was up standing- if any of us were up and standing, just thinking about that. I don’t know if I could.”
Taylor said her bill for the emergency room was $50,000. She is just now getting back to work and is thankful to her family for helping her in her recovery.
She also extended her thanks to the nearly 200 people who donated to a GoFundMe campaign that has raised thousands to help her and her loved ones through this ordeal.
As terrible as the situation was, Taylor believes it could have been worse.
“The fact that this just happened four weeks ago and I’m standing here, sitting here today and walking is crazy,” she said.
Taylor told KIRO 7 she believes the shooting happened because of mistaken identity. Tacoma police have not announced any arrests in the case.