KING WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- A mother of two who survived a gunshot to the face is warning others about staying in violent domestic relationships.
Selena Spurlock is navigating life in a new way after the 41-year-old said her ex-boyfriend arrived at their home in King William County after a night of drinking last November.
“When he came home, I just didn’t want to deal with him. So, I told him I wasn’t letting him in,” Spurlock recalled.
She then called the non-emergency police number when he wouldn’t leave. Within seconds, she said he shot at the bathroom window with a shotgun.
“I flew back,” Spurlock recalled. “I had a loud ringing in my ear. My daughter wakes up and comes running in screaming. I grab the towel before she runs in and wraps my face up because I feel blood running down my face.”
Paramedics rushed her to a helicopter that flew her to VCU Medical Center. She spent a week in the ICU and another in the hospital recovering from a broken nose and an injured hand.
Several bullets are still lodged in her face and hands. The blast also took her eyesight, and she cannot drive or work.
Spurlock cannot sleep and has persistent headaches, sinus issues and earaches.
“When he shot me, I just prayed that God keep me here for my kids because I wasn’t sure I would survive or not,” Spurlock remembered.
She applauded the nurses and doctors at VCU Medical Center that helped her heal. Support from her family, friends and neighbors has kept her spirit strong.
Now she is learning how to live again. Instructors from the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired have visited her home to help her use her phone, read braille, and teach her how to cook.
She also uses a guide cane to walk around, but is adamant to be independent again. Spurlock hopes to regain her eyesight in the future.
CBS 6’s Brendan King asked Spurlock what the hardest part of her new life is.
“Not being able to see my kids grow up,” she responded. “I mean, I can physically feel how they’re growing but not being able to visually see them. Or if I’m going to have grandkids. Or if I’m going to get married, or if they’re going to get married. That’s the hardest.”
Marcus Holman, 46, was charged with malicious wounding and several felony weapons charges. He’s currently at the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center awaiting trial and due back in court in August.
Holman’s attorney, Brent Jackson, told CBS 6 on Thursday that his client is apologetic. He claimed Holman was unaware that Spurlock was standing at the window and did not intend to injure her.
Spurlock said Holman has hurt her before. But she stayed in the relationship never thinking the outcome would end up like this.
“Hopefully, someone will see my story and encourage them to leave. Any kind of abuse, whether that’s verbal, mental, physical -- all of them affect you. You just have to know your worth and walk away,” she warned.
