2nd grade teacher shot while taking rideshare to her Lakeview apartment: 'I felt the blood dripping'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It is a jarring split screen to jump from the Lakeview crime scene where a 25-year-old second grade teacher was shot to the serenity of her parents' North Shore living room.

The last few days for Eliza, who asked us not to use her last name for her safety, have been marked with an undertow of shock and healing.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

"That's probably the biggest thing I think about, like, if I was leaning a little bit further this way, I might be not here. That's something I've thought about a lot," Eliza said.

Around 2 a.m. Sunday, after a night of karaoke with friends at a Lakeview bar, Eliza parted ways and called a rideshare.

The shooting happened near Belmont and Sheffield, barely a block into the short ride to her apartment.

"We were stopped in traffic, and then we heard two shots, and I kind of went to duck, and then I felt, I didn't even really feel it. I kind of just felt blood dripping," Eliza said.

In that moment, and even now, Eliza is remarkably composed.

"I think, like, when I felt the blood dripping. I think I registered it pretty quickly," Eliza said.

Police said witnesses reported someone shooting from a dark-colored vehicle.

One of those bullets pierced the back windshield of Eliza's rideshare, grazing the front left side of her forehead, just centimeters from her eye.

"For the parents, it's been like, 'Why aren't our kids safe?' They're down in Chicago. Just running through my head, over and over," said Thomas, Eliza's father.

Police collected at least half a dozen spent shell casings, but the gunman got away.

That is not what matters to Eliza and her parents.

"We just want it to be a safe place for them to live," Thomas said.

It is Chicago's gun problem, they say, that is now crystallized in a personal way.

"It's very easy to desensitize, I think, because we hear about it all the time," Eliza said. "I'm really going to take it in and understand the emotional impact it has on someone."

A young man inside a different vehicle was also shot. He is expected to be OK.

Chicago shootings: Tracking gun violence in 2024, with live updates

INTERACTIVE SAFETY TRACKER Track crime and safety in your neighborhood