By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL HARLEM — A Harlem grandmother who was shot in the leg by a stray bullet in broad daylight says she didn't even hear a gun go off, let alone realize she had been shot.
Virginia Valree, 66, was shot while crossing the street at 135th and Lenox Avenue Wednesday afternoon after two drivers had given her the right of way.
"They both stopped for me to continue across the street," Valree said from her bed at Harlem Hospital.
"The next thing I knew I heard a noise. I can't say it was a bang, but I just heard this noise and then I found myself from trying to save myself from hitting the street."
Valree thought that she hurt her leg after falling down.
"Somebody ran up to me and said, 'Miss, you've been shot,'" Valree said.
"I said, 'No, I haven't. I fell and hurt my leg, and I'm going to get up now.' And then the next thing I know somebody was showing me this hole in my leg."
Valree was shaken, but generally upbeat during the interview. She said she was "flabbergasted" that this happened to her.
Valree, who has lived in Harlem since 1968, said she's never been afraid to walk in the neighborhood at 2 or 3 in the morning, let alone in the middle of the afternoon.
"I've always bragged about Harlem being the safest part of New York City," she said.
The bullet fractured a bone in Valree's leg and she will undergo surgery to remove it.
Valree is the second New Yorker to be struck by a stray bullet this week. A 15-year-old Bronx girl was shot in the head on Monday, and remains in critical condition.
Police have not identified any suspects in Valree's shooting.
