A Bronx mom who was struck by stray bullets near Fordham University was walking to the store to buy school lunches for her kids at the time — and says she’s now about had it with life in the Big Apple.
Starli Sanchez, a 34-year-old city worker, said she remains traumatized after being hobbled by the slugs that hit her leg Sunday evening in a brazen shooting that also left a 57-year-old man dead on a Fordham Heights sidewalk.
“We just have to get out of the city, actually, because it’s getting very violent,” said Sanchez, who is married with a 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, to The Post on Tuesday.
“It’s getting very bad every year because there are too many people with guns in the city,” she said.
“There are too many kids with guns in the city. They have to take care of the situation. The situation is getting out of hand with people having illegal guns everywhere in the city.”
Sanchez was walking to the store with her cousin shortly before 7 p.m. when the shots rang out — leaving her running for her life before realizing that she had been hit, she said.
“I heard something behind,” she said. “It sounded like fireworks at first because I’m not used to gunshots, so I thought it was fireworks. But I felt something on my leg. I felt something burning.
“I told [my cousin] to run because I heard police and people say it’s a shooting, and I told her run, and we were running, and then she told me, ‘You’re bleeding! You’re bleeding!’ And I was like, wait. I stood there, and then I went to the [ground] because I realized I had a wound.”
Back home, her 35-year-old husband said he thought the worst when a neighbor told him, “Someone shot your wife,” prompting him to sprint to the scene of the gunplay.
“I ran to the park, and I saw her,” he said. “I said, ‘Relax, relax. Calm down.’ When I saw my wife’s lips, come on. I was scared. They looked white and the skin on her face looked yellow. But I didn’t let her see I was scared. I had to be strong for her.”
Police said the shooting left 57-year-old Kevin Jennings dead with a bullet to the head.
Jennings, who witnesses said was using a walker when he was hit, was also identified as an innocent bystander by locals, but authorities did not immediately confirm that.
Witnesses said the shooting occurred during a dispute between men nearby. Cops have yet to provide a motive for the shooting or apprehend any suspects.
“I saw the other guy on the ground,” the wounded woman’s husband said of Jennings. “He was flat on his face. The bullet came from the back of his head and came through the front. He was not moving.”
The dad recalled that when he got back home, their daughter said, “Papi, what happened? Is Mom OK?’
“I told [the kids] she got shot but she’s going to be OK,” he said. “I called my wife on the phone, and my daughter asked, ‘Mommy, are you OK?’ and my wife said, ‘Yeah, Mami, I’m OK.’ I saw two tears rolling down her cheeks.”
Sanchez is now recovering at home, her left leg wrapped and crutches nearby.
She said she’s grateful that she didn’t take her kids with her on the trip to the store, something she typically does when shopping for their school lunches at the local supermarket.
“It’s a divine signal that I didn’t take them because I usually go with them because they help me a lot,” she said. “The first thought to m mind was thank God they didn’t go with me.”
Now Sanchez worries that her close call will still traumatize her children.
“I was scared, because I was more scared about what my kids would think about the situation,” she said. “Because it was near the park that I always to to with them, so I thought they were gonna get afraid to go downstairs and go play in the park.”
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