A Kentucky highway shooting victim is opening up about the sheer panic and chaotic aftermath of the shooting. She was shot in her car while traveling with her family.
28-year-old Rebecca Puryear thought she was going to have a fun day with her husband and 4-year-old son. However, she ended up in the emergency room with a gunshot wound instead. The family had spent the day in Lexington together.
They were heading back to Harlan, Kentucky. That's when they heard gunshots near Exit 49 on I-75 as they were driving. Her husband instantly recognized the noise as gunshots.
"It sounded like a tire had blown, so I asked my husband, and he said it was gunshots," Puryear told CNN on Sunday. The news barely had time to register when they ended up in the middle of the shooting themselves. "The next thing I know, my ears are ringing. I look over and my (passenger-side) window is busted and there's a bullet hole."
Shooting Injures Kentucky Woman
Puryear kept driving — a decision that may have saved her life. She drove for a bout a mile and half before she pulled over away from the shooting. She checked to make sure both her husband and son were okay. But that's when she realized that she had been shot.
The bullet had shattered the passenger-side window, struck through her right arm, penetrated her chest, and exited through her left arm.
"I looked down and was just pouring blood," Puryear said. "I had to try to keep it together because if I freaked out, they would've freaked out."
The family called 911 and waited for help. Laurel County Sheriff's Deputy Bobby Roberts responded to their call and helped the woman. Puryear said, "I started fainting and going in and out, and he told me to get in his cruiser so he could take me to the hospital."
Fortunately, she survived the shooting. But she will need surgery to further fix her body.
"We're blessed that I'm still alive. I'm a walking miracle," Puryear told CNN. "It still does not feel real to me, even though I'm sitting here with gaping wounds."
