Mom of 4 recovering after losing eye in Las Vegas shooting

When Martha Carbajal decided to move to Las Vegas two years ago, she hoped to escape the crime and traffic in her hometown of Long Beach, California. She said she knew she would make the transition alone, first finding a job and then saving enough to relocate her children later.

Still, violence would find her in east Las Vegas. Earlier this month, Carbajal’s plans were thwarted when she was shot in a life-threatening attack that resulted in the loss of her eye, she said.

While recovering, Carbajal, 45, has been wearing a loose-fitting eye patch that sometimes flaps when she talks, exposing a stitched, though swollen, bullet wound on her eyelid. Worried that her new appearance would scare her two youngest kids, a daughter, 14, and a son, 9, who still live in Long Beach, the mother of four has since put a pause on their regular visits, she said.

The incident was still under investigation. Though the Metropolitan Police Department would not release details regarding Carbajal’s case or speak to the circumstances of the incident, police confirmed that they had responded to a shooting in the 500 block of North Lamb Boulevard at 7:05 p.m. on Oct. 5.

In an email, police said that in that incident, one victim had been transported to the hospital with an apparent gunshot wound and that the investigation was still open.

In an interview, Carbajal described what she said happened that evening.

On Oct. 5, around 6:30 p.m., she said she had just finished shopping for a new sweater near Charleston and Nellis boulevards. She said she had plans to see a movie and get sushi with her boyfriend.

On her way back from the store, Carbajal said she suddenly felt the urge to use the bathroom and turned right onto North Lamb Boulevard, looking for somewhere to stop.

“For the most part, I always use my GPS,” she told the Review-Journal. “I’ve been trying to get familiar with Vegas, and that was one of the days that I just decided not to use it. I thought that I would figure my way out.”

So, Carbajal said she turned again, entering a dead-end street where the Vera Johnson Manor B apartment complex is located. Realizing there would be no available bathroom, she turned around.

Loud blasts

Then, Carbajal said she began hearing multiple loud blasts that sounded like fireworks. Searching for the source of the commotion — and, hopefully, a “short cut” out of the housing complex she had accidentally driven into — she craned her neck.

What happened after she turned on North Lamb again, she said, is still a blur. That is when she heard what she described as an “explosion.”

Carbajal said she would later come to find out that the noise was a bullet that first struck the back windshield of her car, then grazed the side of her headrest before entering the right side of her face near her ear. It exited out of her eye, she said.

“I suddenly couldn’t see out of my right eye,” Carbajal said. “It felt really painful and very swollen. I looked down, and I was gushing blood.”

Carbajal said she exited her car, still on North Lamb, and found a witness she assumed lived in a nearby residence. Still confused and shaken, she said she initially feared the man was the perpetrator and begged him not to kill her. Carbajal said she did not have much time to consider who he was before she collapsed to the ground. However, she remembered him holding her hand and calling 911.

“My instinct as a mother was that I only had seconds or minutes to live,” Carbajal said. “I wanted to say goodbye to my kids, so that gentleman helped me call my oldest daughter, Jessica.” When Jessica, 23, picked up, she couldn’t believe the news, Carbajal said.

Officers arrived at the scene, and Carbajal was transported to the hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery. She said she woke up hours later and learned that she had lost her right eye.

Planning for a prosthetic eye

Since the shooting, her daughter has created a GoFundMe page to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills. The campaign has raised over $4,000 from nearly 80 contributors.

Carbajal is stable and staying with her boyfriend while she heals. She said she has spent her days mainly sleeping and watching cartoons to distract herself. She added that it is always a highlight when her youngest daughter texts her funny videos to watch.

“Now, my thing is to heal and get that prosthetic eye,” Carbajal said. “I haven’t even researched much because I’m not ready yet. Eventually, though, I will have to accept it.”

Later, Carbajal said, officers told her that the area where she had been shot had become more violent. The block is situated south of East Bonanza Road.

‘Help catch whoever did this’

According to Metro’s Open Data Portal, officers were called about a different illegal shooting near the 500 block of North Lamb Boulevard two days before Carbajal was shot.

According to Carbajal, nobody has been arrested or charged with her shooting, but detectives asked her to be patient as they investigate.

“And if somebody knows anything, they should make an anonymous call, give a tip to a detective, and help catch whoever did this,” Carbajal said. “I don’t want people to be in that area without knowing what has happened there.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.