Someone Just Got Shot on My Street Corner

UPDATE 8/22: My third-hand description of the shooter was totally wrong. According to the official police statement:

The male is described as being approximately 25 years of age, chubby build, wearing a dark shirt, blue jeans and white cap.

ORIGINAL POST 8/21: I was drinking coffee in my kitchen when I heard a popping sound like somebody setting off a firecracker. Then I heard a scream, which at first I thought was just the sound of people having too much fun at a barbecue, lighting fireworks, but when Joe and I stopped and listened, we could tell it was not a happy sound, it was a woman in anguish, screaming for help, and I hurried, not fast enough, downstairs. I walked, didn't run to the corner, sure that I was going to see a woman holding a dead child.

But no one was dead. There were a few people gathered around to help a young, very thin lady, who was bleeding from her hand, and the woman there calling 9-1-1 said that there was a round from a small-caliber pistol still lodged in it. The caller definitely seemed to know what she was doing, and directed the bystanders accordingly. I called David on my cellphone to ask if he had any first-aid supplies, and he and JoJo came running to the corner with towels. I don't remember handing a towel to anyone, but David said that he had brought the red towel with him to the corner, the lady's hand was wrapped in a red towel when the paramedics arrived, and we are now missing one red towel, so it's nice to know that I wasn't totally useless. All I remember doing is trying to stay out of the way while the victim moaned and sobbed in pain.

The police started taking statements—"Did anyone see or hear anything?"—but since other people had hurt shots same as I did, heard screams same as I did, and even seen the shooter face to face, I guessed my testimony would be a waste of the officer's time and left around the time the news van showed up. I heard someone say the attacker grabbed her bag first, and then shot her. Someone else said it was the victim's first day in New Haven. The welcome wagon was seen dressed all in black, fleeing west on foot with a purple purse.