TAMPA, Fla. — The robber who shot a Tampa woman over a few dollars in her purse is in jail, but now the 75-year-old victim faces an even worse situation.
It happened in March in Tampa's Plantation neighborhood. Karen Lynch says she was shot over the $4 she had in her purse.
"And he goes, I'm going to kill you. In no uncertain terms," said Lynch.
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He had a 9 mm pointed at her.
"You got two choices. You take out his sight or you take out his wind," she said.
Lynch only had kibble near by.
"I flipped the box of cat food over and I threw it in his face and it went in his eyes,” said Lynch.
Now, it seems Lynch is in an even worse sitatuon. Officials condemned her home while she was recovering from the gunshot wound to her leg.
"It seems like the worst things happen to the best people,” said neighbor Sarah Rickerby.
When Lynch was shot, authorities discovered her house had no running water and extensive water damage from Hurricane Irma.
The county told her she couldn't safely go home.
"Ever since her husband passed away, she's been like family. My wife and I would take her out to eat on the holidays,” said Joe Strigle.
Strigle is a veteran, a neighbor and a concerned friend. None of them can figure out why the widow of a decorated war hero is going through this.
"With her husband being like he was — he was the first guy on the Bay of Pigs and she can't get help. That doesn't make sense,” said Strigle.
Strigle and others are making phone calls to Veteran's Affairs and the County.
A co-worker even started a GoFundMe page to help with expenses.
"They said, oh, you know, you can go to an assisted living. Well, no, because I pay a mortgage on that house,” said Lynch.
Her leg will heal.
The rest may not be as easily mended.
"I don't know what she's going to do now and it's heartbreaking,” said Rickerby.
