Woman wounded in Willowbrook mass shooting thought she was going to die
WILLOWBROOK, Ill. (CBS) -- A woman who was wounded in the leg in the Willowbrook mass shooting over the weekend spoke out from her hospital bed Monday - describing what she called pure chaos.
Mariah Dixon spoke to CBS 2's Charlie De Mar from her hospital bed. Dixon did not think she would survive after she was shot in a parking lot near Route 83 and Honeysuckle Rose Lane during a Juneteenth celebration early Sunday morning.
All she remembers is ducking for cover under a car.
"I thought that I was going to die," Dixon said. "I got shot once, and when the bullets kept ringing and I kept hearing gunshots, I was just basically waiting to get shot again. That's how I felt."
Dixon is one of at least 23 people who were struck in the mass shooting around 12:25 a.m. Sunday. One person, 31-year-old Reginald Meadows, was killed.
"When I got shot, the bullet kind of went through my knee - and it lodged up in my femur bone," Dixon said.
From her hospital bed, Dixon said she remembers dancing with friends in the parking lot – and then she heard the shots and felt the pain.
"Immediately, everybody started running – and, you know, pushing past me and shoving me," Dixon said. "I thought that there was really nowhere for me to go."
In the chaos moments after the shooting, and with a bullet in her leg, Dixon took cover under a car.
"I was just pleading for help," Dixon said. "I didn't know if I was going to be left there - or if I was going to get shot again."
In cellphone video posted to social media, you can hear the gunshots and panic from people who were there.
"The screams around me - it was pure chaos," Dixon said.
Neighbors say the strip mall Juneteenth celebration had started to become an annual tradition. But as evening turned to morning, Dixon said the mood of the gathering changed.
"I just felt a bad energy, I would say, because there was obviously people were drinking," Dixon said.
Dixon now says her life has changed forever.
"I'm afraid. I'm 23 years old -- and I don't know if I'll be ever able to attend parties again - or do things like a carefree young adult," Dixon said. "Somebody lost their life. My life is changed for the rest of my life."
The DuPage County Sheriff's office said they are still interviewing witnesses and victims – and searching some of the cars left behind in what remains an active crime scene. Late Monday, there was no word on any arrests.