Shooting set back woman’s plans

Marcella McNeil had relied on disability assistance and income from odd jobs since suffering serious injuries in a 1989 hit-and-run accident.

She was making it all right — until April, when she was injured in a shooting.

McNeil, a 48-year-old mother of three and grandmother of seven, was sleeping in her adult daughter’s basement apartment on that April night. Usually her daughter slept in the bed, but that night they shared it while McNeil’s adult son slept on the floor.

At 1:25 a.m., an assailant stood outside the window and fired multiple shots into the apartment. Police found 14 bullet holes. They said McNeil was not the intended target.

The shot that struck McNeil in the back broke three ribs, chipped bones off of her spine and collapsed both of her lungs.

She left the hospital a week later with medication for pain and nerve damage.

“A piece of metal is still in my back,” McNeil said.

She had been staying at her daughter’s apartment for about a month, saving to pay off some bills so she could get a place of her own. She was making progress by working off and on at the Qwest Center Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium.

Then, unable to work, she couldn’t afford to move.

She called 211, the United Way of the Midlands hot line, in June to ask for help. United Way is one of the partners with Goodfellows, helping The World-Herald charity distribute its emergency assistance during the year.

The program helped McNeil cover $500 of her bills. That was enough to allow her to move into her own house.

“I was so joyful and thankful,” McNeil said. “They saved me more than they know.”

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