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A woman seriously wounded in Thursday’s deadly shooting rampage in Washington, D.C., shared a powerful message about gun violence from her hospital bed.
Susan Hamerski, of Minnesota, was shot while walking her daughter’s dog in the Logan Circle neighborhood, suffering “serious and severe” injuries, family friend Tina Wilcox, who is speaking on behalf of the family, told The Washington Post.
Hamerski is in stable condition but cannot speak. When loved ones asked her what she wanted the world to know, she picked up a notepad and wrote: “Gun control is public health,” Wilcox said.
The Minnesota woman has made it past the life-threatening stage of her injuries, Wilcox said Friday evening, though her recovery timeline remains uncertain. Her family has asked for privacy as she continues to recover.
Hamerski was among five people struck by gunfire after doctor Matt Wade Lambert, 55, killed a manager inside the Vida Fitness gym before opening fire on people from the balcony of his $1.1 million penthouse, according to police.
The incident began when Lambert fatally shot James Stuart, 46, the manager of his condominium building. Lambert became increasingly angry over a long-running dispute about black mold in his seventh-floor penthouse, police said.
