Woman shot by stray gunfire has bullet lodged in jaw

The innocent bystander shot in the face Tuesday in York when rival groups had a gun battle in the middle of a city street remains hospitalized in Charlotte with a bullet in her jaw.

Dequater McCollough, 54, opened her back door as shots rang out a block away Tuesday afternoon. A bullet struck her in the face, police said.

She remains in serious condition at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where she was airlifted after the shooting, a hospital spokesman said Thursday.

Family members said McCollough will require plastic surgery and that at least part of the bullet remains lodged in her jaw.

The triggerman who allegedly was firing at others Tuesday, Aundraveious Laron McDowell, 21, of Clover, is being held without bond. McDowell is a convicted felon who was charged two years ago with attempted murder but later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

York Police Department detectives are continuing to investigate the shooting incident, said Capt. Brian Trail. At least 10 people were arguing on California Street Tuesday afternoon when the argument escalated to a fight and gunfire between McDowell and at least one other person, police said.

McCollough was shot despite being a block from California Street.

McCollough’s sister, Ida Neal Lord, was an innocent bystander in 2008 when she was a customer at a check cashing business when a gunman shot her in the head and back.

This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Woman shot by stray gunfire has bullet lodged in jaw."