NEW IPSWICH, N.H. (MyFoxBoston.com) - A 9-year-old girl is recovering after being shot in the eye with a BB gun.
She was riding in a friend's car when the BB came through an open window.
The BB hit Tessa in the corner of the eye, and doctors still don't know if she'll get her full vision back. But, they say, she's making huge progress and she's already willing to forgive the person who is responsible.
"I was really scared,” she said. "My friend heard it go by her and then it hit me"
By a BB fired from the wooded area near her friend's house. Tessa was in the back seat of a car with the window down.
"I said ow that hurts and then she thought I was joking,” Tessa said.
Tessa's mom knew something wasn't right so she brought her daughter to the doctor-- who took an x-ray.
"He says ‘there it is.’ I said ‘yeah there's the x-ray’ and he said ‘there it is.’ You could see the BB,” Tessa’s mother, Renee Kuusisto, said.
The injury was worse than they thought.
"When I heard her say Boston I knew it was bad because Boston is trauma," Tessa’s mother said.
It took two surgeries over several hours
"They finally pulled it out and said it was in the muscle in the connective tissue around the eye and that's what stopped it from penetrating the eyeball,” Tessa’s mother said.
Police are now working to find the shooter, the family says investigators have a suspect, but Tessa's doesn't want anyone to get in trouble.
"If she can have a heart for forgiveness and the person can see that. To me I'm thankful for that,” her mother said.
Tessa has other things on her mind; like turning 10.
“I'm turning 10 Aug. 16 and I just hope it heals cause i don't want to ruin my birthday,” she said.
Tessa's mother said investigators are focusing on a teenager from the area but police telling us that as of Saturday there hadn't been an arrest.