A tattoo artist doesn’t know if she’ll ever regain full use of her right arm and hand after she was shot in Northwest D.C. Monday night.
Nikki Rimm and her husband were standing outside their home near 9th and Farragut streets talking to a neighbor about gun violence when shots were fired.
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“Because there’s been so much gun violence lately,” she said. “It seems like every night you could hear gunshots.”
Then gunfire erupted as a car sped past.
This is my life and my job, this arm and this hand. So it’s devastating.
Nikki Rimm
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“I realized it hit me,” she said. “I grabbed my arm and went down on my knees, and my husband and my neighbor, we all went down.”
Rimm depends on her right hand for her livelihood.
“The bullet kind of shattered my humerus,” she said. “I can’t do anything with this arm or my hand.”
“This is my life and my job, this arm and this hand,” Rimm said. “So it’s devastating.”
Police told Rimm they don’t think she was the intended target, but that doesn’t make her feel any better about the neighborhood she’s called home for almost nine years.
“I feel really uncomfortable,” she said. “I feel scared. Yeah, I want to go. I just want to leave.”
Doctors say Rimm will need 10 to 12 months of physical therapy before she can use her arm again. A GoFundMe page has been created for Rimm and her family to help with expenses.
Police are looking for a green Toyota Camry with Virginia tags.
