Jessyca Sweeten escaped the incident with some cuts from broken glass

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — A bullet came within inches of a driver’s head in a seemingly random shooting late Tuesday night in Vancouver.

Jessyca Sweeten was on her way home after seeing a play in Portland. She was driving east on Highway 14 between the Lieser and Ellsworth exits when her driver’s side window suddenly shattered.

“All of a sudden, there was just a really loud noise right next to my head,” Sweeten told KOIN 6 News. “I thought the airbag had actually gone off because it was just so loud.”

Bleeding and blinded by pieces of glass with one eye quickly swelling shut, Sweeten pulled to the side of the road and called her husband. He called 911.

Jessyca Sweeten’s car was hit by a bullet on Highway 14 in Vancouver, July 27, 2019. (Courtesy of Jessyca Sweeten)

Sweeten thought debris on the road — or maybe a bird — had hit her car. But the Washington State Patrol troopers who arrived at the scene took stock of the evidence and determined that the damage was caused by a bullet.

Crime lab officials confirmed Friday that the car had indeed been shot.

The bullet hit the driver’s side door, inches from Sweeten’s head. She escaped the incident with her life — and some cuts caused by the broken glass.

“The detective said I was really lucky,” said Sweeten. “If it had hit that area, she said a few more inches, and it probably would have hit me in the head.”

Jessyca Sweeten’s face was cut by broken glass after a bullet hit her car near her head in Vancouver, July 27, 2019. (Courtesy of Jessyca Sweeten)

Sweeten said she hasn’t gotten back behind the wheel since her brush with death.

“Definitely having some anxieties driving,” she said.

But she’s thankful to be alive.

“Knowing what it was and how close it was to my head — I feel really lucky.”

Sweeten hopes the shooting was accidental but is waiting to see what detectives find out.

“I don’t know if anybody was necessarily trying to kill me but they obviously didn’t care whether I lived or not,” she said.

Washington State Patrol is investigating. No arrests have been made at this time.