Gun-toting woman shot by NYPD officers after alleged crime spree, reports say
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A woman with a gun was shot in the arm after a weekend of bizarre behavior and crimes, reports say. (NYPD)
A gun-toting woman was shot by New York City police officers Sunday after a weekend crime spree that began when she allegedly choked a parent at a school play, reports said.
Lori Gjenashaj, 41, was shot in the shoulder at around 12:45 p.m. after police received a 911 call about a woman breaking into a Staten Island home, NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said.
Police conducted a traffic stop of a black SUV that Gjenashaj was driving and when officers approached the vehicle she brandished a firearm, authorities said. Officers then fired five rounds at her, striking her once in the shoulder.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I heard a woman screaming, ‘I’m f---ing shot!’ I’m shaken,” Roland Molina told the New York Daily News. “You don’t expect it.”
Gjenashaj’s alleged crime spree reportedly began the night before she was shot.
Gjenashaj was initially arrested around 11:20 p.m. Saturday after she allegedly choked another parent at a school play in Academy of St. Dorothy, the Staten Island Advance reported, citing police sources. She reportedly called the woman’s children a sexually explicit name.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gjenashaj was charged with misdemeanor assault and issued a desk appearance ticket and was released, according to the Staten Island Advance.
The next day, police said Gjenashaj went to her mother-in-law’s home on Staten Island and threatened her.
“I heard a woman screaming, ‘I’m f---ing shot!’ I’m shaken."
She then drove to a former friend’s home and tried to break in by smashing the door with a brick, the New York Daily News reported. She also fired her gun at her friend’s 13-year-old son, who was in the house, and then fled the area.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At one point during her alleged rampage, Gjenashaj let a male relative out of her car before police caught up with her, according to the Daily News. The man was not charged.
Gjenashaj was taken to the hospital after she was shot in the shoulder. She is said to be in stable condition as of Monday. Her gun was recovered at the scene.
No charges have been filed in the case yet.