NYE shooting victim, 75: 'Thank God I'm alive'

Despite being robbed and shot in the face in broad daylight on New Year's Eve, 75-year-old Judy Ritchie managed to walk more than two blocks back to her Mayfair home carrying her groceries as neighbor after neighbor begged her to take it easy and call police.

"People stopped me the whole way," Ritchie said. "I came in my house bleeding all over, wiping my groceries off and putting them in the refrigerator."

Once Ritchie was taken to the hospital and had time to process what had happened, just one thing weighed on her mind, she said.

"The first thing I thought and said to the doctors was 'Can I go back to work Monday?'" Ritchie recalled.

Now, police have one question too: Who could have done this to Ritchie?

Today, Northeast Detectives released surveillance footage of the car that is believed to have been driven by Ritchie's attacker - a silver, pearl or white four-door Nissan Altima with a "skyview roof" and damage to the front grill.

At a news conference this morning, Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum described Ritchie's attacker as a Hispanic man in his late 20s with a clean-cut beard, a red-knit cap and a silver handgun.

"She's fighting for her pocketbook and you shoot her in the face?" Rosenbaum said. "I don't think there's anything more heinous than that."

According to Ritchie and police, the shooter pulled up alongside Ritchie as she walked on Montague Street near Princeton Avenue. Without ever getting out of the car, the gunman reached out of his car window and grabbed Ritchie's jacket and purse strap. When she fought for the handbag, he shot her in the face and drove away, police said.

Ritchie was taken to Aria Health's Torresdale campus, where she was treated for the "through and through" gunshot to her cheek and released the following day.

Today, Ritchie is not angry or bitter.

"I'm just thankful that I'm alive," she said. "That's my New Year's resolution: Thank God I'm alive."

Anyone with information on the man who shot and robbed Ritchie is urged to call the Philadelphia Police Department's tip line at 215-686-8477.