The bullet that struck Gallagher shattered her pelvis, leaving lodged fragments that doctors will not remove, her grandmother, Judy Shoemaker, said Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Gallagher’s mother and grandmother are Springfield natives. A day after the shooting, Shoemaker — who is still a Springfield resident — rushed to be at Gallagher’s side.
“(Tuesday) night was pure horror,” Shoemaker said via cell phone on her way to the hospital. “I didn’t know until about 10 p.m. whether she was alive or dead.”
Gallagher, an accountant at a bank, recently bought a house with her fiance, who “hasn’t left her side” since the shooting, Shoemaker said.
“She’s still in serious condition,” Shoemaker added. “ The recovery will take a long time. She will be down for at least two months.”
The gunman, reportedly identified as George Sodini, 48, killed three women and injured nine others before killing himself.
An online diary that Sodini left points to his hatred of women, and police believe he targeted that particular aerobics class, according to CNN.
Shoemaker said she and her family were sickened by Sodini’s blog.
“Oh, it was horrible,” she said. “He’d been planning this all those months.”
Shoemaker also doesn’t understand why nobody reported the blog. “It just doesn’t make sense,” she said.
For now, Shoemaker is focused on the health of her granddaughter. “It is nice just knowing there are people in Springfield who are thinking of us.”
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