peninsular.jpg

A woman, who is an EMU student, was shot in the shoulder by an errant bullet at the troubled Peninsular Place apartment complex Tuesday. (Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

Eastern Michigan University student Destinee Leapheart woke up abruptly early Tuesday morning after hearing a popping noise in her Peninsular Place apartment bedroom.

Leapheart wasn't sure what caused the noise, but she immediately felt a searing, burning pain in her shoulder, and she knew something was wrong.

"I heard a pop and I felt a pain and I thought it was just my shoulder popping, but then I began yelling because I was in real pain," Leapheart said. "I was screaming. I laid on my back and I touched my arm and realized my sweater that I was wearing was sticking to me. I felt something wet and I used my phone as light and I saw blood all over my hand."

That's when she realized she had been shot.

Ypsilanti police Detective Sgt. Tom Eberts said the shot was fired about 1:40 a.m. outside the apartment complex.

Leapheart said police told her it was possible the bullet may have come from across the Huron River, near a wooded area.

The complex is at Huron River Drive and Leforge Road.

Many people called police to report multiple shots fired. Police said a blue Mustang is a possible vehicle of interest.

"At first I was in sheer panic," Leapheart said. "I thought someone was in the room. Then I looked up and right above my head was the hole in the wall. It was pure terror. I just thought, is someone trying to kill me? I didn’t know what was going on. I thought I was going to die."

Leapheart then crawled out of her bed, staying low to the ground.

"I didn’t know if someone was intentionally shooting at me," she said. "I crawled to my roommates door and was banging on it."

Leapheart's roommate, 24-year-old EMU student Tammy Flowers, had no idea what was going on.

"Before I could even open the door, I heard her crying," Flowers said. "She was on the floor right next to my door. Then she said, 'I just got shot.' I was in shock. She had her hand wrapped around her arm, holding where the wound was. At first I couldn't see any of the blood. Then I noticed it was all the way down her arm, on her clothes, her pants and shirt. When we went into her room, it was on her bed, it was everywhere."

"I was so glad she was there because I wouldn’t have been handle it," Leapheart said.

Leapheart, 20, is expected to make a full recovery, but it's a possibility that fragments of the bullet remain lodged in her shoulder.

"Right now I'm kind of waiting for them to let me know what's going on," Leapheart said. "It looks like my bone is cracked. They think it'll cause more problems to take it out right now. I'm still waiting to see a bone specialist."

Neither Leapheart or Flowers will continue living at Peninsular Place Apartments. Flowers has already moved the majority of her belongings out her apartment and Leapheart plans to move as well.

"I told them that I'm not staying there," Leapheart said. "I'm talking to the president (Susan Martin) and vice president of Eastern to try to move out and back into the dorms or stay home."

Flowers is now living with her parents in Waterford, about an hour away from Ypsilanti. She said the commute is a small price to far for her safety.

Both Flowers and Leapheart said they tried to get out of their lease previously due to safety concerns, but were informed by management they would have to pay the remainder of their lease or find someone else to live in the apartment.

"I've always questioned safety ever since the stuff with Julia (Niswender)," Leapheart said. "I started to question the safety because it (crime) was all the same area. It just scares me. I tried to get out of my lease last year. I was always worried about something happening while living there."

Niswender was found dead last December in her Peninsular Place apartment. Police ruled her death a homicide and said she was drowned in the bathtub.

Neither Leapheart nor Flowers is sure whether the apartment management will forgive the rest of their lease now in light of the incident. Leapheart has already paid her rent through February and is unsure if the money can be returned.

The roommates said this is not the first time they've been concerned for their safety. Flowers had already been going home every weekend because she no longer felt safe.

"With everything else going on around campus, I already told my dad that I wanted to come home," Flowers said. "Last year I lived on campus in the Towers, so we felt a lot safer."

On the apartment's website, it says new electronic locks and key fobs and additional exterior breezeway lights have been installed as part of a few new amenities being offered to residents.

Leapheart said she is happy to be alive.

"That was the first thing I thought to myself," Leapheart said. "I was lucky because out of all of the incidents, I actually lived. The Lord is clearly on my side."

Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at KatreaseStafford@mlive.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on Twitter.