This week, a woman from a suburb of Portland, Oregon, who was caught in the midst of a gunfight and managed to survive being shot in the face emerged before the representatives of the city to demand more action to be taken against gun crime.
“These wounds that you see on my face is the result of a 40-caliber bullet that punctured right through my nose,” Katie Guzenko told Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and members of the City Council on Wednesday, reported KATU2.
Guzenko, who works as an HR specialist for Amazon and is 27 years old, was in her car on July 20 in Portland on her way to purchase silverware for a bridal shower when she heard gunfire in the area where Southeast 130th Avenue and Powell Boulevard intersect.
“I kept driving, hoping to get out of that area … next thing I know my face is profusely bleeding,” Guzenko in a recent interview with KGW8.
According to the police, she was caught in the crossfire when two gunmen who were standing on opposite sides of the roadway started shooting at one another during an encounter that was alleged to be related to gangs.
One of the bullets fired by the perpetrators entered Guzenko’s vehicle through the front passenger side window, passed through her nose, and exited the vehicle through the driver’s window.
The terrified victim was able to record a disturbing video of the immediate aftermath of the shooting, in which she can be seen with most of her face covered in a thick coating of blood that is spilling from her wounds.
Guzenko was able to come to a stop, get out of the vehicle, and make a call for assistance. According to her estimation, it took approximately twenty minutes for a paramedics to arrive at the scene.
During the meeting on Wednesday, Guzenko, who appeared via video conference and had scars that were still noticeable on her nose, urged the mayor and the elected representatives of Portland to do more to reduce the amount of gun violence occurring in the city.
“Mayor, given that you’ve called us a gun violence emergency, I feel like very little is being done.” Guzenko told Wheeler.
The mayor responded by saying that he did not desire to “bulls— people” by making overly ambitious commitments and that the goal of reducing gun violence by 10% was the “bottom threshold.” He also mentioned that in order to maintain the safety of the city, he was working toward adding an additional 300 police officers to the force.
Extremely graphic content warning.
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 4, 2022
Portland reporter @GenevieveReaume has obtained shocking video footage of a Portland woman who was shot in the face while driving. Survivor Katie Guzenko has been speaking out about the city’s surge in shootings. pic.twitter.com/nr199gWuaK
