A stray bullet may have traveled a mile before it struck a patient sitting on her hospital bed at a medical center.
Investigators combed neighborhoods near Crozer Chester Medical Center in Pa. to see if anybody had heard the gunshots, ABC 6 reported.
The 62-year-old woman, who had been admitted to the hospital hours earlier for undisclosed reasons, was sitting up in bed at 11:45 p.m. when a bullet shattered a window and hit her in the abdomen.
"She heard a popping sound, then reached down to her side, her abdominal area, where she noticed she was in pain and had blood coming out of that area," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan, said.
The runaway bullet didn't hit any major organs, and the woman was rushed into surgery after hitting the call button by her bed.
"She's doing great. She's expected to fully recover," spokesman for Crozer-Chester. Grant Gegwich told philly.com.
The investigators are hoping to zone in on a specific neighborhood where the bullet may have come from, ABC 6 reported.
"There are certain neighborhoods that are in close proximity to this hospital that have a high rate of crime and a high incidence of drug activity," Whelan said.
The investigators believe the incident was unintentional, and the hospital was not specifically targeted.
"We have been unable to verify shell casings yet, but we have been looking in the area," Whelan said, according to Philly.com.
The gun was .32-caliber or higher, so the bullet could have traveled as far as a mile if nothing obstructed its path.
Authorities have been reviewing surveillance tapes from around the perimeter of the hospital.
This is the first time a bullet has entered a Delaware County hospital, but stray bullets are not unheard of in the area.
In 2009 a 49-year-old woman was struck in her home and killed while caring for her sick mother. In April an elderly woman was critically injured after a bullet came through the wall of her house in Chester.
"This is very rare to see an incident in the hospital, but it hasn't been so rare to see an incident in the city where a stray bullet has penetrated through a house," Whelan said. "People have a genuine fear of stray bullets."
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