Valentina is an intensely caring person by nature, and always went above and beyond to look out for those in her circle. On the morning of September 18, 2021, her then ex-boyfriend had asked Valentina for a ride to the laundromat. They did not live together, but she still helped out here and there out of the kindness of her heart. Her ex-boyfriend was a challenging and controlling individual, with Valentina noting that over the course of the day, “His demeanor started changing. One minute he was happy go lucky and the next minute he hated me and the world and everything that I was about.”
Later that afternoon and after the laundry had been taken care of, Valentina and her ex decided to go to Wyandotte Park in Louisville, KY. Around 2:18 p.m. the two arrived and initiated an intense conversation in one of the pavilions at this park. Valentina notified her ex, “I had just decided that I was done, I couldn’t do this anymore, and I was over it. As I turned to walk away, I heard the first gunshot.”
As Valentina walked away, she was shot several times in her back and her hip by her ex-boyfriend, who fled the scene. Miraculously, two women who were playing pickleball at nearby courts saw and heard what had happened, and came to her aid to try and stop the bleeding. “I feel like those ladies saved my life. They don’t feel that way, but they stopped the bleeding, and when he saw them running towards me…he took off running. I believe he was going to reload that gun but once he saw them he changed his mind.” The ex-boyfriend was apprehended and arrested on Watterson Highway moments later.
At UofL Health, the medical team was able to treat Valentina’s wounds. “They kept telling me, ‘I was a miracle, I was a miracle.’ They had a clergyman or pastor come and talk to me because at that point they wanted him to see me [as an example of a miracle].” Valentina was discharged later that day and began the path to physical and mental recovery. Valentina still stays active with UofL Health’s Trauma Survivor group, which allows her to communicate and express her feelings when she is able to go. She also plans to explore advocacy efforts in an attempt to help promote awareness for victims of gun violence.
Though she still struggles with processing the events leading up and that occurred on that day, she notes that she is starting to move further along the path of healing. “I had to forgive him. I couldn’t hate him because I had to heal.”
Valentina Boyd.
Caring.
Trauma Survivor.
