TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A homeless, pregnant Tampa mom is speaking out after a traumatic shooting left her with a bullet in the head.
Vivian Acker had just finished door-dashing for the day. She said she was tired.
Not wanting to harm her three kids and husband in the car, she pulled over to a well-lit parking lot where they could take a nap. After putting up shirts in the windows, the family went to sleep.
Around 4 a.m., Vivian’s husband, Damarian screamed for the family to get on the floor of the car as gunshots riddled the car. Not knowing what was going on, Vivan tried to check on her kids.
“I went to get out of the car,” she said. “Like I had energy in me but my body was limp and I fell to the floor.”
With a bullet lodged in her head, she could only pray to God to save her.
Damarian ran to get help. Paramedics arrived and rushed Vivian to an area hospital for treatment. Doctors expect her to make a full recovery.
“I just don’t understand why it had to be us,” Damarian said.
The children in the back seat weren’t hurt and the unborn baby is doing just fine.
Detectives said they used surveillance video to track down a black 2012 BMW 300 series belonging to 21-year-old Christopher Stamat Jr., who admitted to driving in the area that morning.
Detectives obtained search warrants for both Stamat’s vehicle and residence and found an empty gun box for a 9mm handgun in the vehicle and spent shell casings matching the casings found at the crime scene inside Stamat’s apartment.
Stamat didn’t give a motive for the shooting but told detectives he felt people were following and stalking him.
As for the bullet in Acker’s head, doctors are waiting until she is further along in the pregnancy before they attempt to take the bullet out.
For a link to the family’s GoFundMe, click here.
