A young mother is sharing her story of recovery one year after she and her children’s father were shot in northwest Miami-Dade.
Amy Pizarro says she’s thankful she's alive. On February 17, 2023, Pizarro and her childrens' father were on a motorcycle when she says someone tried but failed to rob them at gunpoint on Northwest 23rd Avenue and 77th Terrace.
In surveillance video from a nearby business, a suspect is seen getting out a car and shooting at the couple. The shooter gets back in the car and the driver takes off. Pizarro and her kids' father were both shot.
A bullet grazed Pizarro's arm, but another hit her in the back and came out through her right upper abdomen.
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“When I touched myself I just saw blood and I was just talking to myself and I was like 'oh my God, I got shot,'” Pizarro said. “I think after my second surgery my parents were notified by the doctors that I may not make it.”
Pizarro underwent three surgeries. She was in a coma, in the hospital for months and away from her two children.
But her family believed in the power of prayer.
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“They prayed over my body and from one minute to the next my vitals started improving and nobody could believe like what was going on,” Pizarro said.
A year later, Pizarro says she's still recovering with the help of her family.
“My sister stopped her world to fix mine that felt like it was crumbing,” Pizarro said.
Pizarro says after the shooting, she started attending Iglesia Full Life Church in Hollywood.
“In Spanish, we call it an 'Encuentro with Dios,' so it's an 'encounter with Jesus,'” Pizarro said.
Even after almost losing her life to gun violence, Pizarro says she forgives the person who shot her. She's made peace and is ready for the next chapter of her life.
"If you don’t pay in this life, you end up paying in the next life and you have one person to answer to and that’s God, so honestly, I forgive him,” Pizarro said. “I don’t have any anger towards him. I pray for him, I pray for the driver of that vehicle, for their family if they knew he did this to me.”
NBC6 reached out to Miami Dade Police to get more information on the investigation.