EXCLUSIVE: Sudanese Diplomat Speaks About Wife Being Shot In Astoria
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The international diplomat whose wife was nearly killed in a Queens shooting earlier in the week spoke out about the incident on Friday.
Mohammed Ibrahim Elbahi, consul general to the Sudanese mission in New York, told CBS 2's Derricke Dennis exclusively about how his wife nearly died. She was caught in the crossfire around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon during a neighborhood shootout in Astoria.
"At the same time she was carrying my youngest son, Ibrahim, on her left side -- the same side where she was shot," Elbahi explained.
Elbahi's wife returned back to the couple's apartment in Astoria after spending three days in the hospital. She is too traumatized to even show a picture of herself or her wound, according to her husband.
"It is unbelievable to talk about, you see, because the shooting and the sounds are very scary," Elbahi said.
The gunfire erupted on the sidewalk at 31st Drive and 21st Street. Police said a group of teens were shooting at each other, just as Elbahi's wife was meeting their daughter at her school bus.
Shots rang out from the parking lot of a McDonald's to the front door of their apartment building, hitting Elbahi's wife.
Neighbor Stella Pavlo said she heard the shots and said she's been praying for the woman's recovery.
"She was in the wrong place wrong time, the poor lady," Pavlo said
"Thank God...she did not die," Elbahi said.
Elbahi said his wife has already undergone one surgery and will likely need another because of severe nerve damage she suffered in the shooting.
Police are still checking surveillance video and interviewing witnesses.
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