Despite being shot in the head, police say a young Hartford mother will make a full recovery. Hours after getting hurt, she’s already posting on social media.
“God was truly with me & by my side!!!! Please keep praying for me. I can’t stop cryingggg.”
That Facebook status was posted by 30-year-old Candace Strickland of Hartford. She put it up just hours after Hartford Police say she was shot in the head and arm.
According to authorities, the shooting happened on Adams Street just off of Albany Avenue.
“She’s a very good person. She’s a mom,” said a neighbor who says she’s known Strickland for years. The neighbor said she rushed to the scene after hearing Strickland was shot. Both the neighbor and the victim live a few blocks from where the shooting happened.
“I got a call and I ran, went to Adams street and I was crying hysterically,” recounted the neighbor.
Miraculously, despite having a bullet lodged in her brain, police said Strickland, who according to the neighbor is the mom of 5-year-old twin boys, is expected to make a full recovery.
Police believe Strickland was caught in the crossfire when gunfire erupted at a home on Adams Street.
One man said his elderly mother lives near the scene of the shooting and heard loud pops.
“Firecrackers or something,” he said. Later she realized they were gunshots.
Detectives from Hartford Police Major Crimes Division processed the scene and towed away a white sedan which had its rear window blown out.
“Sometimes you be at the wrong place,” said Dwayne Fuler of Hartford.
He passed by the scene of the shooting on his way to a local corner store. Fuler said lives in the area and often takes his young daughter with him through that part of the neighborhood.
“It happens all the time in the neighborhood. Sometimes it’s scary but it’s sad it has to happen in your neighborhood,” said Fuler, adding that he wants city leaders to focus on making his community safer.
Strickland remains hospitalized at Saint Francis Medical Center.
Photo Credit: NBC Connecticut