DELRAY BEACH — A 77-year-old woman was in critical but stable condition Wednesday after she was shot by an “unknown assailant” while she was sitting on her balcony in Delray Beach Tuesday afternoon, police say, the second shooting to take place in the area in the span of two days.
The shooting occurred about 1 p.m. in the Village Square apartment complex in the 700 block of Village Square Circle, according to Ted White, a spokesperson for the Delray Beach Police Department. Delray Beach Fire Rescue transported the woman, who was unidentified, to a local hospital in critical condition.
“Luckily, she did make it through the night,” said Dani Moschella, a spokesperson for Delray Beach FIre Rescue.
The assailant is believed to have fired multiple shots from a vehicle in the parking lot on the east side of the apartment building, Moschella said. A bullet hole can be seen in the railing of the second-floor balcony where the woman was sitting, according to a picture of the scene released by Delray Beach Fire Rescue.
She was an “innocent bystander,” Moschella said.
Detectives executed a search warrant at the apartment below the woman’s, on the first floor, which they believe was the intended target. They have not released any information about the woman’s injuries or potential suspects in the shooting.
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Detectives are also still trying to determine whether Tuesday’s shooting is connected to a shooting down the street that left a 16-year-old boy paralyzed from the chest down the day before.
That shooting occurred about 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Villages at Delray apartment complex in the 600 block of Auburn Avenue, according to a news release from the city. The parking lot borders the same lot from which the assailant shot at the 77-year old woman; the two are separated by a fence.
Detectives believe multiple people witnessed the shooting.
Anyone with information about Tuesday’s shooting should call Sgt. Casey Kelly at 561-243-7890. For Monday’s shooting, people should call Det. Kyle Kinney at 561-243-7828.