'Thought I was going to die': Video shows Chicago mom being shot multiple times in front of daughter

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Thursday, September 10, 2026 3:19PM
Chicago mom shot multiple times in front of girl before school: Video
Home video captured a Bronzeville, Chicago mother being shot multiple times in front of her daughter before school on Sept. 3.

CHICAGO -- A woman who was shot multiple times outside her Chicago home said she feared she would not survive the attack after a gunman opened fire as she prepared to take her daughter to school.

The woman, named Erin, was about to leave her home when security video captured what she described as a violent ambush. She is recovering in a hospital bed after being shot nearly a dozen times in front of her daughter, and said the experience left her fearing for her life.

"I thought this was my last time seeing my daughter; that she was not going to have her mom in her life at all," said Erin.

The shooting unfolded just before 8 a.m. on September 3 as she was outside her home in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood. Home security video shows a black car pulling up before a person exits the vehicle and opens fire.

"As I'm trying to get out of the car, I fall to the car on the ground, and I see him shooting at the window of my apartment balcony," Erin said.

Cellphone video recorded after the shooting shows bullet damage inside her home, a shattered balcony window and a car riddled with bullets.

Erin said her daughter was with her during the shooting.

"As I'm getting shot at, I'm telling her to duck low, and at that point, I didn't think there was any type of escape for her, so I told her to run," she said.

Video from the scene captured Erin's daughter screaming as she ran from the gunfire. She said her daughter later returned while talking to police on the phone and helped provide aid.

"She actually came back with the police on the phone, and she took off her school sweater and was stopping the blood," Erin said.

Erin suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and arm, and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital in critical condition. The gunman then got into a black sedan and fled northbound.

Erin said she remained focused on the possibility that she might not survive.

"What's going through my mind is really just like how scared I am, how scared I was in that moment, how I could have lost my life," she said.

"At one point, all I saw was bullets flying at me," she said. "I thought I was going to die."

"I'm screaming to the top of my lungs, terrified - just thinking it was my time to go," she added.

She has undergone two surgeries while recovering at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She said the shooting has left her afraid to return home.

"I thought that I was in a place where I was safe and I could live my life and build. And, it's just frustrating that I'm too terrified to go home," Erin said.

She believes the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. Police said detectives continue to investigate and have not determined a motive.

No arrests have been announced as authorities continue searching for the gunman.

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