Yonkers Woman Shot by Errant Arrow on Riverdale Street

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS)  -- A 51-year-old Yonkers woman remained hospitalized Monday after she was shot in the stomach by a 30-inch arrow while getting out of her car in Riverdale over the weekend.

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Denise Delgado-Brown was hit by the arrow around 2 p.m. on Independence Avenue near the Frances Schervier Nursing Care Center in Riverdale, authorities said.

Delgado-Brown was dropping off fellow parishioners after attending church.

"I thought that maybe somebody had hit me with a baseball or something," said Delgado-Brown. "It was a black arrow with yellow feathers on the end...I started screaming." 

Delgado-Brown, who had just dropped off some friends at the assisted living residence, was just getting out of her car when the arrow hit her, police said.

She was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, and underwent two hour emergency surgery to remove the arrow from her abdomen.

Police do not think Brown was the intended target of the shooting. Police said the black arrow with yellow feathers was a high-performance carbon aluminum arrow used for target practice; they believed it was shot at random, possibly from a rooftop or park in the area. The arrow can potentially reach a distance of more than 300 yards, police said.

Published reports indicate the arrow was facing downward when it struck Delgado-Brown, leading police to believe it was descending after being fired high into the air. The arrow had a rounded-metal tip, which also suggests it was being used for practice, police said.

Despite a helicopter search of the area immediately following the shooting, no arrests have been made. The shooter could face reckless endangerment charges if it's determined that the arrow was shot from an area where target practice is not permitted.

Friends say Delgado-Brown works as a Yonkers Traffic Court officer.