Feb 9, 2006 9:01 pm US/Central
$10K Reward Offered In Stray Bullet Shooting
by Darcy Pohland
Minneapolis (WCCO) ―
Family and friends of a woman shot in the eye last weekend are offering a $10,000 reward toward solving the crime.
Theresa Schiller and her husband, Bob Wheeler, were in a parked vehicle at an intersection near 8th Avenue and Penn Avenue in Minneapolis on Feb. 4 when the shooting occurred.
The couple heard gunshots, and at least one penetrated the couple's minivan. Police believe fragments from one of the shots ricocheted off the dashboard, hitting Schiller in her left eye.
"As soon as the back window went out, she grabbed her eye and said, 'I've been hit' and then there was blood," Wheeler said.
Wheeler, a doctor, drove his wife to Hennepin County Medical Center.
"You don't realize what people go through, even though you spend years of your life working in an emergency room and seeing these kinds of things," Wheeler said. "It doesn't hit home until it happens to you."
When the shooting happened, Schiller and Wheeler were looking to see if Wheeler could safely walk through the area to the City of Lakes Loppet the next day.
On Thursday, Wheeler and Schiller's son, Royce Schiller, made a public appeal to help find the person that fired the shots.
"My mom's such a good lady," Royce Schiller said. "All she's ever done her whole life is help people. She's always wanted to be a nurse, and that's what she's been forever. It's incredible that someone so generous has something taken away from her."
Royce Schiller remains emotional about the shooting that cost his mother an eye.
"It's pretty devastating to hear your mom's been shot," Royce Schiller said. "I thought she was dead. I'm glad she's not. I'm glad she's still here."
Theresa Schiller was recently released from Hennepin County Medical Center. She still faces several surgeries and will eventually be fitted for a prosthetic eye.
She hopes to return to work as a nurse at St. Paul's Children's Hospital.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call Minneapolis Police at 612-692-8477.
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