Neighbors Rally for Brooklyn Grandmother Shot in Eye by Stray Bullet

Neighbors and community leaders held a rally in Brooklyn Wednesday night in support of a 61-year-old grandmother was shot in the eye by a stray bullet while preparing a meal inside her home Monday, according to police and family.

Lorita Pierre was cooking in her second-floor East Flatbush home when she heard a fight break out below, her son said. When she and a neighbor looked out the window, bullets started flying and one hit her above the right eye. The 47-year-old neighbor was grazed in the head. 

"Now we're just working to make sure she can keep vision in her eye," said son Josh Pierre, who is a district leader in the community. "We're working to get her out of critical care, and she's in stable condition." 

Josh says his mother is anguished by how randomly and suddenly her life has changed by the traumatic incident. 

"She took a bullet for something she didn't know nothing about," he said. "She's still asking herself that." 

"I don't even understand how it's gangster when you can't even shoot straight and you shoot up the whole block and somebody's mother's getting shot. That doesn't even make sense," said councilman Juumane Williams.

Police say the shooter was caught, but for Josh Pierre, the damage is done. He says his family won't feel safe in their own home anymore. 

"For something like this to happen, it's going to change her outlook on life," he said. "It's going to change how she views things, it's going to change the way she feels about how she lives." 

Lorita Pierre has already had three surgeries, and doctors are not yet sure whether she'll need more, her son says. Both she and her neighbor remain at Kings County Hospital in stable condition. 

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