ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A woman was shot in the head through her apartment wall after a neighbor said he accidentally fired his gun during an argument.
Family members identified the victim as 27-year-old Sally Strelecki, who remained in critical condition on Thursday, days after the Oct. 2 shooting.
“She was feeding her pets at the counter and a bullet came through the wall from a violent careless gun owner,” her mother, Amy Graham told FOX31’s Deborah Takahara.
Graham said Strelecki was worried about her mom moving back to New Orleans because of the gun violence there, but “look what happened to her in her own home, in her own kitchen, living her life. A bullet through the wall,” she said.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said it happened on around 11:30 a.m. in the 6800 block of S. Ivy Way.
Two separate calls were made to police: one of a reported shooting at an apartment and the second from a man who said his gun accidentally went off and went through the apartment wall.
Strelecki was taken to the hospital by South Metro Fire Rescue in critical condition.
Investigators said the suspect, 26-year-old Mickel McLean, was cooperative and said he was involved in an argument, and the gun he was holding went off, penetrating the wall into the next door unit and striking the woman.
Strelecki’s sisters, Sadie and Emma, said she had her second surgery on Wednesday as doctors work to decrease the swelling in her brain and stabilize her. She came close to death two times, they said.
Strelecki’s boyfriend was in their living room when this happened. He is devastated and continues to stay by her side in the hospital, her family said.
Strelecki’s sister launched a GoFundMe to help with her medical care.
McLean was booked in the Arapahoe County Jail on suspicion of:
- first-, second-, and third-degree assault;
- illegal discharge of a firearm;
- felony menacing;
- and reckless endangerment.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation will continue.