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Июнь
2024

'Horrific': Woman shot, injured at Round Rock Juneteenth celebration speaks

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ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- LaTonya Ray has two wounds on her upper thigh, one where the bullet went in, and another where it went out.

"It was actually very horrific," she said. "It stung."

She said she was at Round Rock's Juneteenth celebration Saturday, walking to the other side of the crowd to find her husband when gunfire erupted. Two women - Ara Duke and Lyndsey Vicknair - died in the shooting and a total of 14 people were injured.

A side-by-side photo of shooting victim LaTonya Ray (right) and her bandaged bullet wound (left)

"I felt it in my leg and I felt myself just sitting down, and my husband had to drag me to the emergency station, and my kids were behind me," she said.

Police are still investigating the shooting. So far, one person, 17-year-old Ricky Thompson III has been arrested in connection to the crime.

"Kind of ridiculous and mad and upset actually," Ray said upon learning the suspect was a teenager.

'Out of there,' Ray says first priority was getting her kids to safety, not her own wounds

Ray said the night was a family affair. She attended the event with her husband and their three children.

"It was so scary because all my kids are petite," she said. "So, if a bullet would have hit them, it would have been way worse."

Adrenaline took over, she said, at the onset.

"It was like I kind of couldn't feel shot because my kids were there," she said.

When she got back to the hospital, that's when the fear set in.

"When I had to get a blood transfusion, that was the most afraid time. They said I lost a lot of blood, so they gave me two liters of blood in the hospital," Ray said.

She also learned the scope of what had happened while in the hospital, and a message for those responsible.

"Apologize for the people's lives that they ruined, and the event, and the historical day of Juneteenth," she said.

Ray said doctors have told her she has to stay off of her feet for at least two weeks as part of her recovery.