PETERSBURG, Va. -- Christine Wesson said an angel was watching over herself and the three children in her car when at least two men opened fire on her vehicle Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old Petersburg mother said she had pulled over near St. James and St. Mark Street to drop off a friend when another car pulled up beside her.
She then saw two men get out of the car and pull out a gun.
"I was the only car out there. I'm looking for 'what's going on?'" she recalled. "Next thing I heard was 'pluck.' Then I heard another 'pluck.' I took the car out of park and drove up on the curb."
With the children screaming for her to drive, Wesson said she did her best to get the kids to safety.
"They did not even give a darn about the kids or about me," she said about the men who fired at least eight shots into her car.
"One of the bullets could have killed everyone in the car because it was so close to the gas tank," she said. "One came through the car, went through the backseat, and if I would have had the kids buckled up, it would have hit them in the back of their neck.
"There was an angel in there with us because the bullet hit the radio."
Wesson said she believed the gunmen were out for revenge on someone, and mistook her for their intended target.
While the children, ages three, four, and eight, were not physically hurt, Wesson said her eight-year-old daughter seemed traumatized by the violence.
"My oldest daughter couldn't sleep. She kept hollering 'Mom!' She was in her dream. She kept saying 'Stop!'" Wesson said.
Petersburg Police said they were still investigating the shooting.
"We're talking to people around the neighborhood... trying to gather information," Petersburg Police Sgt. Greg Geist said.
The shooting was reported at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Anyone with information was asked to call Petersburg Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
