62-year-old woman known as Mother Teresa recovers after quadruple shooting
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia woman who neighbors call Mother Teresa is recovering in the hospital after she and three others were shot overnight in the city's Nicetown-Tioga section. Many people say the nickname is fitting given her kindness.
"It just came out like bang bang bang bang," neighbor Michael White said.
Philadelphia police rushed to the 3700 block of North Carlisle Street around 9 p.m. Thursday after a shooting left four people hurt and neighbors now living in fear.
"I never expected this to be right in my face," White said. "Woo. I'm at a loss for words."
Veteran White, who served in the Army as a sergeant in Beirut, feels fortunate he wasn't shot.
"This is America," White said. "This is not supposed to be happening in our city. City of Brotherly Love."
Neighbors say the 62-year-old woman affectionately known as Mother Teresa was sitting in her bedroom when a bullet went through her window and hit her in the chest.
"She gives food. Whatever you need, if she can do it, she will," neighbor Jereo Watson said. "She's that nice of a person. She's got the biggest heart I ever met."
Police data shows more than 50 women have been hit by bullets in Philly this year. In other words, a woman has been shot in Philly, on average, about every other day.
"This is a brand new world we're living in today and it's horrifying," White said.
The number of women and girls shot a year to date, 54, is less than each of the last two years during the same time. But it's still well above 2019, before the pandemic.
"Just get the guns off the street and the people who are responsible," White said.
We did speak with the daughter of the woman nicknamed Mother Teresa and she is hoping her mother can come home in the next couple of days.
Police say three men ages 25, 34, and 40 were also hit in Thursday night's shooting. All of them are expected to survive.
No arrests have been made.
