A Lyft driver who was kidnapped by a teen passenger, shot seven times and left in the Mississippi woods said she gathered strength to drag herself to safety by thinking of her loved ones.
Brandy Littrell recounted the Tuesday ordeal in an interview with NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson.
She told the news station that the suspect drove her to the woods and ordered her to get down on her knees before he shot her and drove away in her car.
“I realized I wasn’t dead, that I hadn’t bled out,” she said.
Thoughts of her relatives flooded her mind.
“I don’t want my family not to know what happened to me,” Littrell said. “And so I’m like crawling out of the woods, and get enough strength to stand up.”
She said she remembered that mail in her vehicle had her address on it and became worried about her grandmother, who was staying at the home.
“I knew if he could shoot me that many times, he wouldn’t have any problem shooting her, either,” Littrell said. “I’m just super grateful to be alive."
She managed to drag herself out of the woods and knock on doors at an apartment complex. A resident found her and called 911, according to WLBT.
A 17-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with kidnapping, robbery, carjacking and aggravated assault, Jackson Police Deputy Chief Deric Hearn said in a video posted on the department's Facebook page. He said the teen could be charged as an adult and face an additional charge of attempted murder.
Although police named him, NBC News does not usually identify minors charged with a crime, even those charged as adults.
The shooting comes on the heels of Lyft's first-ever safety report it released last month detailing some physical assaults that turned deadly during a three-year period.
In a statement Friday to NBC News, Lyft said: "The incident described is horrific and our hearts go out to Ms. Littrell and her loved ones. We've reached out to offer our support, have permanently removed the rider from the Lyft community, and stand ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation."
The ride-hailing service is also "exploring ways to expand the use of certain safety features and alerts to help prevent these kinds of incidents moving forward," per the statement.
The Lyft safety report concluded more than 4,000 sexual assaults occurred on Lyft trips between 2017 and 2019.
Included in the data on sexual assaults, over the same period, 10 people died after physical assaults, including three people each in 2017 and 2018, and four the following year, the report said.
The report, however, did not specify a statistical breakdown between who was assaulted, riders or drivers. It also did not specify if the assaults were reported to have been committed by riders or drivers.
The teenager confessed to the crimes involving the Lyft driver, Jackson Police said. It was not clear Friday if he had made an appearance in court, or if he was represented by an attorney.