Shooting victim speaks from hospital

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - If the bullet had hit an inch higher or lower, a woman struck by a stray bullet in Chesapeake says she probably wouldn't be alive.

38-year-old Carolyn Hughley spoke to WAVY.com from her hospital room Friday.

"I just can't believe I was shot," Hughey said. "I'm just glad I'm still walking the face of this earth today, very very glad."

She was shot Wednesday morning while she was inside a home in 2700 block of West St. Brides Road. Hughley is a nurse and had stopped by to take care of a patient who had recently had surgery. Moments later it was Hughley who was being rushed into surgery at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

"The whole time I'd been there I'd already heard one gunshot and I thought, 'Okay, it's time to get out of here,' that's what I was telling myself," Hughey said.

Police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan says she was hit in the abdomen and it appears the shot was fired from long range, by a high-powered rifle.

"So I'm gathering up my stuff and just started feeling this warm sensation on my side," Hughey said. "I looked down and actually saw the hole, and I was like, 'Oh, well you might want to get some help cause you've been shot.'"

Hughley is not angry or bitter. She doesn't care to know who did it because she says that wouldn't change what happened and she believes everything happens for a reason.

"I just have to learn what it is and grow from it, that's all I can do," Hughey said.

Doctors removed a part of Hughey's small intestine and colon. Police are still investigating the case.

Police encourage anyone with information to call 757-382-6161 or Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.