COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. - A Colonial Heights mom went through a double mastectomy two weeks ago and last Wednesday doctors told her they didn't catch the cancer in time.
She has stage 3 cancer, but that revelation wasn't even the worst part of her week.
She asked CBS 6 to hide her identity because while working her latest job Saturday, someone fired a gun at her.
She’s been delivering the newspaper since October, but after bullets came flying, "I quit on the spot," she said. "The carriers out here get cents per paper, it's not worth it."
With her six-year-old little girl along for the ride that morning, she said someone held her at gunpoint.
“In front of my daughter," she said. "It was a total life-changer."
Two days later, Johnny Seymour was walking home from a nearby RedBox when he found himself in a real-life drama.
"He said, ‘you know what this is?’ something like that, and then, “if you run, I'm gonna’ kill you,’" recounted Seymour.
Seymour complied with the suspects’ request, but one still shot him.
Police believe Wayne Jackson, Hodari Taylor and Michael Walker are involved in Seymour's case and said they’re also connected to the attack on the paper carrier. They were captured after a brief police chase down Wakefield Avenue Tuesday afternoon.
That’s the same street where the carrier was shot at early Saturday.
Wednesday, a scuba team recovered evidence from a local creek and sources say they found a weapon.
"I have two eight-year-olds that love playing in the yard,” Janet Darter, who lives in the area, said. “I thought this was a safe neighborhood, but now I'm fearful it's not.“
The three suspects are also wanted for a roadside robbery where a man on his scooter was pistol-whipped, police in Prince George said. Now Chesterfield and Petersburg police are comparing notes to see if they’re linked to crimes there.
"I'm very lucky. The good lord has me or I could've been gone," the former paper carrier said.
She’s glad she's alive to tell the story and even happier that police may have helped write the final chapter for the suspected felons.
"My daughter feels better that the bad guys are caught and they're in big-boy time-out," she said.
All three suspects are charged with a number of felonies and police are investigating to see if others were involved.
