Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice

Courtesy of the Shevchenko family

Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was hospitalized Tuesday night after being shot by a gunman at Clackamas Town Center in Portland, Ore.

By Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET -- A teenager from Oregon faces a “long road to recovery” after surviving her second brush with death in just the past few months.

Kristina Shevchenko, 15, was rushed to a hospital Tuesday in critical condition after a masked gunman sprayed bullets around a suburban Portland, Ore., mall during the height of holiday shopping season, piercing her chest. After surgery, she was in stable condition, according to a statement from her family.

Her family continued to update supporters on her condition via a Facebook page on Wednesday, with her brother, Yevgeniy, writing early in the morning, "The bullet went through bruising her lung, it missed any vital organs and it missed her ribs. She will need 2 more operations. we appreciate any and all support including your prayers! Thank you."

In another post, Shevchenko's family revealed something else: Over the summer, Shevchenko had survived another fatal encounter.

"Many of you have noticed the earlier tragedy that happened in our family a couple months ago where 7 of my siblings and 2 friends were involved in a fatal car accident. You could read it online for yourself, but yes it did happen and yes Kristina was in that car accident," the post read, and linked to an article about a Beaverton, Ore., man who was killed after veering into a van driven by a 27-year-old member of the Shevchenko family.

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Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts identifies the victims of a deadly shooting at an Oregon mall, saying there was "no apparent relationship" between the two and the shooter.

Oregon mall gunman ID'd; motive unclear

The crash happened in Vancouver, Wash., in August, and alcohol was believed to have been a factor, Vancouver police told Columbian.com.

Multiple teens and adults were in the van when the driver -- Alberto Perez Garcia, 25 -- veered into it, they said. The driver and at least two other adults had been hospitalized at the time.

In a statement, the family described Shevchenko as a "happy child" who is "active in church," and said "by the mercy of God she is now in stable condition, but has a long road to recovery."

Shevchenko, who had been with a friend when she was shot, regularly walked through the mall around the time of the shooting -- which happened at about 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday -- to get home from school, her family said.
The motive for the shooting, which sent Christmas shoppers and people waiting in line to see Santa running for cover, wasn't clear.

Several witnesses reported hearing the gunman, identified as Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, announce, "I am the shooter," before he began firing.

"All of a sudden, I just heard a series of gunshots… boom, boom, boom, boom, boom… whatever the shooter was shooting at, they continued to shoot," shopper Bill Hoff told NBC station KGW.

Macy's employee Mariah Saldana told KGW that she was sitting by the door "watching what was going on, and then some guy just ran by in a white mask and an assault rifle, and then I look out because I hear a few shots and he's … and he’s sitting there and he's pointing the gun at some people."

 

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Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts discusses the gunman who opened fire at a Portland-area mall, saying it "looked to be a random shooting."