A Southern California woman says she is grateful to be alive after narrowly surviving a terrifying attempted carjacking during what was meant to be a peaceful beach trip to Mexico with her dog, Ellie.
Cassandra Light, a San Diego-based life coach, has shared details of the frightening incident she says happened in Tijuana about a month ago while she was returning home from a visit to Rosarito.
According to Light, an armed person tried to take her vehicle, firing several shots at the car while her golden retriever was still inside.
“One bullet entered through my driver’s side window, traveled through my car, and exited through the passenger door,” a message posted on a GoFundMe page for Light said.
“A second bullet went through my lower leg, shattering both my tibia and fibula before exiting the other side hitting my ankle.”
“I was then thrown from my vehicle out into the street… I was losing blood so fast.”
Light said adrenaline initially masked the full extent of her pain. But as she looked up, she saw Ellie still in the backseat of the car.
“When I tried to run to her I collapsed realizing all the bones in my leg had been completely broken by the gunshot and I had no ability to walk,” the life coach wrote.
“Thankfully, I kept yelling her name and she jumped out of the window and ran to me.”
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Light said two women she didn’t even know rushed to her aid and one helped tie a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, until emergency personnel arrived.
She was eventually transported from a Tijuana emergency room, to a hospital in San Diego.
Since that time, she’s undergone multiple surgeries in an effort to repair the damage, having to get a “metal plate, a rod and multiple screws” in her leg.
Her road to recovery is going to be long, with months of physical therapy and more in order to learn to walk again.
“Losing the ability to do the work I love has been one of the hardest parts of this,” Light said, noting that all the time she was helping others get over barriers in their lives, she never imagined she would need others to help her get over hers.
She said her one bright spot through the ordeal has been her nearly 2-year-old dog, who never left her side — riding with her in the ambulance, waiting faithfully as she underwent emergency surgeries and helping her through the darkest moments of her recovery.
“The EMTs, nurses, and hospital staff continually commented on her calm, gentle presence,” Light wrote.
“They encouraged me to have her trained and certified as a therapy dog so that, once I’m healthy again, we can give back, bringing comfort to people experiencing trauma, hospitalization, and some of life’s most difficult moments, just as so many people brought comfort to us.”
Light said the financial impact of what has happened has been “overwhelming,” citing medical bills, inability to work, legal fees, rehab and recovery, and more.
The California Post reached out to San Diego officials for further information.
