That Friday morning, a 13-year-old girl ran to the window of her home.
Sandra JoAnn Rushing, 18
Courtesy Lakewood Police Department
There was an unusual disturbance in the quiet Lakewood neighborhood where she lived near West Kentucky Drive and South Simms Street.
Someone had just slammed the gearshift on a blue 1970 AMC Rebel into reverse and floored the accelerator. The young teen-ager had heard tire wheels screeching.
The car careened backward and struck the curb on the south side of Kentucky. The driver overcorrected and – still going backward – the car struck the north curb of the street.
The car had gone nearly the entire block backward, zig-zagging all the way, almost to Simms.
Then the 13-year-old girl heard a loud blast from a large caliber hand gun. A bullet had pierced the blue car’s front windshield.
When the girl looked out the window of her home on West Kentucky Drive she saw a car spinning wildly in circles.
The car did three circles before it plowed over the south curb again and smashed into a stop sign.
The girl saw a man walking down the street after the shot was fired.
Two young girls walking on Briarwood Street saw another blue car with a man and a small boy stop near the crashed car. The man then sped away.
A motorcyclist, David Williams of Lakewood, stopped by the car and opened the door to look inside. A tiny black poodle leaped out of the car and ran away.
Williams saw a young woman slumped over in the passenger seat. Williams opened the door and entered the car. He pressed his palm against the woman’s neck, trying to stop bleeding from a bullet hole.