‘My entire life is changed’: 19-year-old Renton shooting survivor shares her story

RENTON, Wash. — It was just four months ago that four teenagers were shot at a going away party at Ron Regis Park in Renton.

One of those teenagers is 19-year-old Mercedes Soto. She was shot in the leg.

“I didn’t think that I was going to be able to walk for like, a really long time and I was scared of that,” she said.

Mercedes is walking once again but the recovery process has been a lengthy one.

She said that night was chaotic.

“I just kind of remember being on the floor and not knowing how I got on the floor. I didn’t realize I got shot because I didn’t feel it,” she said. “I thought they were fireworks so I was more confused than I was scared, until I did realize they were not fireworks. Then I was very scared.”

After she fell to the ground her boyfriend picked her up, got her into a car and drove her to the hospital.

“I don’t know what me and my best friend would have done if he wasn’t there or if it was anyone else. I don’t think they could have done that for me,” she said.

She spent a week at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Since then, she’s focused on healing both physically and emotionally.

“It was really hard for me to accept that it was me, because, like — what did I do to get shot,” she said. “What did I do and somebody else didn’t do — that’s what was hard to come to terms with.”

That night she said still haunts her.

“My entire life is changed, like I’m forever going to have this scar and the people that I know that got shot — they are forever going to have that trauma that, like, you can’t really go out and just do anything anymore because of the fact that people just don’t understand, like, what a gun can do to someone that didn’t do anything,” she said.

Those responsible still have not been caught.

“They didn’t ruin my life, but they definitely made a big impact on it — and I don’t think that I could ever trust people again (in) the way that I did when I was just kind of living my life. Put the guns down, like, it’s not the only solution to things.”

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