Nearly two months after Tiya Hudson was struck by a stray bullet while she was sleeping, the 13-year-old girl has a message for the people responsible.
"I want them to get caught and I want them to say sorry for what they did," Hudson said. "I know it wasn't meant for me."
Hudson was sleeping inside her home along the unit block of Hathaway Drive in Sicklerville, NJ around 12:45 a.m. July 7 when she was struck in the buttocks by the stray bullet.
"I was trying to crawl and get there but then I stopped because I was in too much pain," Hudson said. "I thought I was gonna die."
Tiya's 15-year-old sister Toni told NBC10.com she came to her aid moments after the shooting.
"When I came out [of my room], my sister is crawling to me saying she got shot and that she was going to die," Toni said. "I said 'You're not going to die.'"
Responding officers found 11 shell casings at the nearby intersection of Hathaway Drive and Hawthorne Lane. They believe the gunshots were fired west -- peppering the teen's home and at least one other with bullets. But the motive for the shooting is still unknown.
Hudson, who is still recovering from surgery to her abdominal and reproductive organs, is looking forward to starting 8th grade on Thursday. She hopes to continue her dream of becoming a track star in high school once her bullet wound heals. She also wants to be a pediatrician when she grows up.
"Not right now but I'll work for it," Hudson said.
Police meanwhile continue to investigate the shooting while trying to determine if three suspects who were recently taken into custody were responsible. The Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that the three men were arrested in connection to several weapons that were found outside Hudson's home the night of the shooting.
"You take it to another level when you have assault rifles or assault weapons used during what looks like to be some sort of street gun battle," said Winslow Township Police Detective Sergeant Chris Dubler.
While the three men are in custody they have not been officially charged. A $3000 reward for an arrest and conviction in the case remains in place. Dubler says police are passing reward flyers door to door in the neighborhood as the investigation continues.
"We're in that area and that neighborhood repeatedly doing foot patrols and stuff like that," Dubler said.
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Tiya's mother Betty Hudson says her biggest concern is the type of weaponry that was used the night of the shooting.
"What I really want to happen is to get rid of the guns," Betty said. "We've got big guns on the street. That was an AK-47. I'm not into sending them all to jail. I would just like them to get educated on all the weapons that they've got access to."
Meanwhile Betty says her children continue to try and move on from the terrifying experience, despite a constant reminder of what happened.
"I'm trying to convince them this was not intended for our family and I'm trying to make them feel safe that way," Betty said. "But they won't go in the room. We still have a bullet hole in the wall."
The Hudson family, who rely on section 8 funding, are working with the housing authority to move out of their home and neighborhood for good.
