Oakland shooting leaves 81-year-old wounded

Oakland police investigate the shooting of an 81-year-old woman by an intruder inside her home on Laguna Avenue on Jan. 28, 2014. Oakland police investigate the shooting of an 81-year-old woman by an intruder inside her home on Laguna Avenue on Jan. 28, 2014. Photo: Henry K. Lee, The Chronicle Photo: Henry K. Lee, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland shooting leaves 81-year-old wounded 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

An 81-year-old woman was shot and wounded Tuesday by an intruder in her home in Oakland's quiet Dimond neighborhood, police said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was shot in the shoulder on the 4100 block of Laguna Avenue about 10:30 a.m. The assailant fled and hasn't been arrested, said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman.

She said the man forced his way into the two-story home while the woman was alone.

The shooting occurred in a neighborhood that has seen burglaries and dumpings of stolen cars but little violence. Interim Police Chief Sean Whent came to the scene but did not address the media.

"This particular area that we're in, we have not received any additional reports of home-invasion robberies," Watson said. "Historically, this neighborhood has been very quiet."

Garrick Chinn, 68, said he was in his mother's home next door when he heard what sounded like "a phone book hitting the front door."

Chinn said he heard a car speeding away. He saw the victim being carried out of her house on a chair before she was placed on a gurney and taken away in an ambulance.

Citing conversations he had with police, Chinn said the bullet passed through the victim before it "went through the side of her house, went through our gate and then hit a wall in our house and fell onto the concrete on the floor."

He said, "I'm sorry what happened to her, but I'm lucky that it didn't happen to me, because I was home, too."