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Air Force service member shot in face trying to sell iPhone X in Norfolk

Posted at 4:20 PM, Aug 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-20 17:47:07-04

NORFOLK, Va. - A woman is recovering after being shot in the face in Norfolk, according to court documents.

It happened around 4 p.m. on July 11.

Police were called to the intersection of Middle Avenue and Summit Avenue for a woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her face.

“She started hollering, 'Help, help,'" said Pandora Watts. “She said, 'I’ve been shot,' and that is when I ran home and got a towel and we called 911.”

Watts said she was walking with her neighbor that afternoon when she came across a 26-year-old with a bullet wound to the outside of her left eye.

The victim, who is in the Air Force according to court records, was on West Avenue trying to sell her iPhone X.

Records say she made arrangements to sell it to someone she met on the Facebook Marketplace. They say one teen got into her car when she pulled up to the address, and after a brief exchange she said he mumbled something, pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger before running off.

“When you are buying and selling things online with strange people you never met, you want to meet them in the public place,” said Richard James, head of Tidewater Community College's Criminal Justice Department. “If you are going to make an exchange, make sure people are with you. Don’t go by yourself, particularly women. Do not go by yourself.”

News 3 spoke with the victim over the phone, and she said her injury has been improving.

She said she was grateful police arrested two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old for the crime.

The women who came to her rescue said they were glad she is improving.