A Tacoma grandmother is on the mend after suffering a pellet gun injury to her face while driving her family home from Pike Place Market on Saturday. Edith Oppenheimer was behind the wheel with her daughter and two young granddaughters when the incident occurred near South Jackson Street and 4th Avenue in Pioneer Square around 5 p.m.
Initially perplexed by the sudden pain, Oppenheimer said, “I was in shock. I didn’t know what was going on. I just knew it hurt, and it wouldn’t stop bleeding.” At first, police speculated that she may have been struck by a rock. “I thought, who gets shot? It wasn’t something I even considered,” Oppenheimer recalled. “I told myself maybe a rock hit me because it felt more like a ball.” After returning home to Tacoma, she sought medical attention, where doctors found a pellet lodged in her cheek.
“When the doctors asked me what happened, I shared my story, and they confirmed there was definitely metal in my cheek. That’s when it hit me—I’d been shot,” Oppenheimer explained. Medical professionals revealed that the pellet had bent upon impact with her cheekbone, which had been fractured, and they emphasized how fortunate she was to be alive.
“The pellet is bent, which happened because of my broken cheekbone. The doctor told me I’m lucky; I could have been killed,” Oppenheimer said. Still reeling from the experience, she is deeply affected by the potential consequences of the incident.
“My 8-year-old granddaughter was sitting right behind me. If it had hit her, she’s a different height—who knows what could have happened. I could have crashed the car,” she expressed. Oppenheimer is now reaching out to the community, hoping that someone may have witnessed the shooting or captured it on video to aid the police in identifying the shooter.
