Young mom shot by stray bullet while walking in Buckhead

ATLANTA — A metro woman is looking for answers after police say she was hit by a stray bullet while walking down a busy road in Buckhead.

Her family believes this shooting could have happened to anyone who was on Roswell Road early Sunday morning.

Erika Pickett, 35, is now recovering at Grady Memorial Hospital, trying to make sense of how the incident happened.

Pickett's mother, Lynn Hamilton, said her heart sank when she got the phone call about it.

"No mother wants to get that phone call," Hamilton said.

The family members told Channel 2's Matt Johnson they feared the worst when they learned that a stray bullet had hit Pickett in the chest during a night out in Buckhead.

"It shattered that collarbone and it broke it in half," Hamilton said.

Pickett, a mother of two, now faces months of recovery but her family says she will survive.

The family members also say none of what happened makes sense to them a day after the shooting.

"An innocent bystander minding her own business, and she gets shot," Hamilton said.

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Atlanta police said witnesses heard two shots just before 3 a.m. Sunday near Irby Avenue.

Detectives are now looking for the driver of an orange Ford Mustang captured on surveillance video.

Police said Pickett was with a friend, walking toward their car, when she heard gunshots. Then, someone told her she was bleeding.

"I thank God because there was a fire station across the street and they just took over from there," Hamilton said.

Police don't have a description of the shooter, but they hope to learn more once they find the orange Mustang.

"I would like to talk to him and let him know what happens with stray bullets and he will never want to experience that," Hamilton said.

In the meantime, Pickett's family is rallying behind her recovery after coming close to tragedy.

"Right now, I'm not angry. I'm just very grateful that my beautiful daughter is still alive," Hamilton said.

Anyone with information on the shooter's whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.

Cox Media Group