Erin Jenkins was about to leave her home when security video captured what she described as a violent ambush. Jenkins, who is recovering in a hospital bed after being shot nearly a dozen times in front of her daughter, said the experience left her fearing for her life.
"I thought this was my last time seeing my daughter; that she was not going to have her mom in her life at all," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the shooting unfolded just before 8 a.m. as she was outside her home near Lake Park Avenue and 40th Place in the Bronzeville neighborhood. Home security video shows a black car pulling up before a person exits the vehicle and opens fire.
"As I'm trying to get out of the car, I fall to the car on the ground, and I see him shooting at the window of my apartment balcony," Jenkins said.
Cellphone video recorded after the shooting shows bullet damage inside Jenkins' home, a shattered balcony window and a car riddled with bullets.
Jenkins said her daughter was with her during the shooting.
"As I'm getting shot at, I'm telling her to duck low, and at that point, I didn't think there was any type of escape for her so I told her to run," she said.
Video from the scene captured Jenkins' daughter screaming as she ran from the gunfire. Jenkins said her daughter later returned while talking to police on the phone and helped provide aid.
"She actually came back with the police on the phone, and she took off her school sweater and was stopping the blood," Jenkins said.
The shooting occurred on the 4000 block of South Lake Park Avenue at about 7:51 a.m. on Sept. 3, according to police. Police said a 33-year-old woman was outside when an unknown male offender approached in a black sedan, exited the vehicle, displayed a firearm and shot in her direction.
Police said the victim suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and arm and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital in critical condition. The offender then returned to the vehicle and fled northbound. No other injuries were reported.
Jenkins said she remained focused on the possibility that she might not survive.
"What's going through mind is really just like how scared I am, how scared I was in that moment, how I could have lost my life," she said.
"At one point, all I saw was bullets flying at me," Jenkins said. "I thought I was going to die."
"I'm screaming to the top of my lungs, terrified - just thinking it was my time to go," she said.
Jenkins has undergone two surgeries while recovering at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She said the shooting has left her afraid to return home.
"I thought that I was in a place where I was safe and I could live my life and build. And, it's just frustrating that I'm too terrified to go home," Jenkins said.
Jenkins believes the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. Police said detectives continue to investigate and have not determined a motive. No arrests have been announced as authorities continue searching for the gunman.
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