This mother remaking a life after shooting
One year after attack Sujeil Villanueva a stronger, happier woman
Carolyn O’Connell Sujeil Villanueva holds her son, Dante Jr., while playing London Bridge with her two daughters (l-r), Naomi and Angilica.
LONG BRANCH — Despite personal tragedy, she has chosen to live her life as a survivor, not a victim.
Almost one year ago, Oct. 18, Sujeil Villanueva, now 25, was shot twice at close range — once in the head and once in the abdomen. The second shot led to the death of her unborn child.
Her attacker, Kendra Stein of Long Branch, was convicted in the shooting and awaits sentencing. She faces a minimum sentence of 10 years without parole.
On that fateful day last October, Villanueva, who had just finished a day’s work in the construction office at City Hall, went to visit George Morales, the father of her unborn child.
A year ago next week Sujeil Villanueva’s life was changed when she was shot twice in her car while it was parked on Broadway in Long Branch.
After visiting with Morales at his tattoo studio on lower Broadway, Villanueva headed back to her car to pick up her three children. On the sidewalk outside the shop, she was confronted by Stein, a former girlfriend of Morales.
Villanueva said that this was not the first time she was confronted by Stein, who accused her of stealing Morales. The two got into a shouting match on the sidewalk, and Villanueva attempted to end the situation by getting into her car and leaving.
While not initially feeling threatened by the other woman, Villanueva said she soon had a sense that Stein intended to harm her.
When Villanueva got into her car she was followed by Stein, who was continuing to yell.
Villanueva told Stein to get out of the car; she recalls feeling that Stein had a crazy look in her eyes. "I felt deep inside that something bad was about to happen," she said.
"Something told me to keep my eye on her, and that is when I saw her, out of the corner my eye, reach for the gun. She placed it on the right side of my head and then shot me," she said.
Miraculously, Villanueva remained conscious. She then felt Stein move closer to her, and was aware of her aiming to take a second shot, this time at her stomach.
Villanueva said she applied pressure to her own head and stomach while she remained lucid. The second bullet to her abdomen passed through her uterus and became lodged in her upper left leg. "I knew next she would try to kill George," said Villanueva.
Her prediction proved true.
Villanueva said she later found out that the gun jammed as Stein tried to shoot Morales. That gave him enough time to knock the gun from Stein’s grasp.
As the first aid squad arrived, Villanueva recalls that despite suffering from massive head trauma, she was still able to communicate with the paramedics.
She lost consciousness soon after, though. Her family — three brothers and a sister, her mother and three children, were left only with hope.
"We all were in shock, and most of all we felt helpless," her brother José Villanueva said.
The family and her friends did the only thing they could for Villanueva — they prayed.
Those prayers were answered.
Two days after surviving the surgery to remove both bullets, Villanueva awoke. "As I came to, the tragedy flashed before me. I knew why I was lying in the hospital bed," said Villanueva.
Her recovery was miraculous, as was the fact that her unborn baby was still alive.
The love of her family and Morales, who stayed by her bedside for the next several weeks, is what sustained Villanueva. "I never believed that I would die," she said. "My fight to live was for my children."
Villanueva was released from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving and was reunited with her children Angilica, 11, Naomi, 9, and Dante Jr., 4; just in time to celebrate Dante’s 4th birthday.
The joy of her own healing, however, was tempered seven weeks into her recovery when Villanueva had to mourn the loss of her unborn child. Doctors told her that the trauma to her uterus, and the medications she was taking to prevent seizures prevented her baby from developing. The baby, which her children call "our angel," miscarried after 12 weeks.
Although she was able to leave the hospital, Villanueva was not yet able to function on her own; she and her children lived with her mother for the next several months as she continued her recovery process.
In August she received her doctor’s permission to live independently, and is currently living on her own with her three children, although she is still coping with a handicap resulting from the shooting. Villanueva is now legally blind in her right eye, and has only limited vision in her left eye, which has drastically altered her independence. "I can no longer drive or partake in crafts and cross-stitching," she said. Reading and writing can only be accomplished with a high magnetism lens.
But she remains focused on regaining full independence, and she appreciates what she has. "I am so happy to be alive," said Villanueva. "My children are my main priority."
José agreed, noting that his sister surrounds herself with happiness.
Angilica has said she feels better now that her mother is home, but said, "I’m scared that she is still in danger."
Such fears are not relegated just to the children, but are with the rest of the family too, though the older family members draw some lessons from the experience.
"You continually see violence in other places," said José, "but when it happens to your own family, life is just no longer taken for granted."
Villanueva said that her children and family have suffered so much and it is that, not her own suffering, which evokes the anger she has within her. To this day, her children fear they will lose their mother and have cried often about the loss of their unborn brother or sister. Doctors have told Villanueva that it is still too early to tell if she will ever be able to bear children again.
Finding a way through the sadness for herself and her children, Villanueva said she looks to the future with many plans, but never forgets the support she received from the community, her family and friends.
She noted that last Christmas, she was unable to purchase Christmas gifts for her children, because she was unable to work for months. That sadness was erased when many of the people who work for the city showed the true spirit of the holiday. "The gifts — so many of them — did not fit under the tree," she said.
The city was not alone in coming to the family’s aid. Immediately following the tragedy, said Villanueva, the school system was quick to offer her children assistance, consoling them and offering counseling. City officials, with whom Villanueva worked for the past five years, also called with words of encouragement and support from the beginning.
Villanueva said her goal now is to always see the positive side, and to give back to the community that so generously aided her and her family in its time of need.
She has even managed to find something good in the shooting that nearly took her life.
"My inability to work at this time is like a long vacation in which I can spend more time with my children," she said. It also has allowed her to give something back to the community that has given so much to her.
Taking what she has learned from her own tragedy, she is seeking to help others through a support group of those who had similar experiences. "It is about creating life, not dwelling in the past," said Villanueva. "It would be very easy for me to just give up and allow my attacker to have won by destroying my life. Instead I have become stronger and will continue to learn from this experience."