PORTLAND, Ore. — Not a day goes by that Tracy Carman does not think about the early July morning she was shot in downtown Portland.
"Never in my life did I think I'd ever be in this position," Carman said.
The 36-year-old and two friends had just left a bar near 3rd and Burnside when a group of young men approached them. Carman says the men tried to pull her away. Carman's friend intervened. A witness with a gun did, too.
"He shot off, pop, pop, pop, five rounds," Carman said. "Usually I guess if you hear gunshots everyone drops and scatters."
That did not happen in this case.
Carman says the group of men returned fire. More than two dozen shots when all was said and done.
Carman was hit in the leg.
"Insanity," she said. "It feels like a burning hot, red hot iron poker. I was screaming they shattered my leg."
Carman spent more than two weeks in the hospital, her birthday included. Since her release from the hospital, Carman has moved to Seattle to be closer to family.
"I can't walk unassisted for six months," she said. "I can't work."
At the time of the shooting on July 3, there had been a little more than 570 shootings in Portland, year to date. That number has ballooned to almost 1,100. More than 320 people have been injured by the gunfire; 55 people have been killed.
"I am a lucky one," Carman said.
Carman chooses to look beyond the unprecedented level of gun violence haunting Portland to find the good.
"I've seen the worst in society," she said. "Obviously I've been shot and almost killed but I've also seen so much love and compassion and support."
Carman's case remains unsolved. Crime Stoppers of Oregon is offering a $2,500 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.