Bullet strikes pregnant cyclist on Interstate 79

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http://www.timesonline.com/articles/...a208024942.txt

NEVILLE TWP. — The .223-caliber bullet that was removed from Alisa Musser’s side Saturday night would make an interesting addition to her baby’s scrapbook — if police ever release that piece of evidence.

Musser, who is four months’ pregnant, was shot by what appears to have been a stray bullet while she was riding on the back of a motorcycle Saturday night on Neville Island.

Miraculously, the fetus wasn’t hurt and the expectant first-time mother from Mount Oliver was recovering at home Monday afternoon. Musser, 26, said she planned to stay off motorcycles until at least after her baby is born.

“The Lord definitely had a helmet on my baby,” said Musser, who is taking the week off from her job at Michael’s Arts and Crafts at the Waterfront in West Homestead while she recovers.

State police said Musser was shot around 5:30 p.m. Saturday while on the Interstate 79 off-ramp to Neville Township. Cpl. Jennifer Brown said it didn’t appear that Musser was targeted by a shooter, but rather that she was struck by a stray bullet, perhaps from a nearby shooting range.

An investigation was ongoing Monday.

Musser said she thought another vehicle had kicked up a rock or piece of glass.

“I didn’t know what the heck it was, but it hurt like hell,” said Musser, who was en route to a friend’s house a couple of blocks away in Neville.

When Musser got to the house, she said she looked down at her left side and saw blood oozing through the two shirts she was wearing. She went to Sewickley Valley Hospital, where doctors removed the bullet, and was transferred to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital for further evaluation.

“When they said it was a bullet, I just lost it and started shaking. I started thinking about what could’ve happened. I feel so lucky,” Musser said.

Keith McElrath, president of the Coraopolis Sportsmen’s Club in Robinson Township, about a mile from where Musser was shot, said there was a chance that the bullet came from the club’s outdoor shooting range.

“But if it did, the person would had to have shot away from the range. Our backstop doesn’t point that way,” said McElrath, who wasn’t at the club Saturday night.

McElrath said state police had been to the club, which has 600 members, earlier in the day to collect the club’s sign-in logbook from Saturday. McElrath said he planned to post a sign at the club reminding members to sign in before using the range and to exercise caution when out there.

“I don’t know if it (the bullet) came from here, but I’m just glad the lady is OK and her baby is going to be fine. It would have ruined the rest of my life if something worse would have happened,” McElrath said.

Tom Fontaine can be reached online at tfontaine@timesonline.com.