Oksana Stepanenko says she never imagined that she would escape the war in Ukraine without a scratch — only to be shot in downtown Ottawa.
Stepanenko is recovering at home after she was attacked by someone wielding a pellet gun on an OC Transpo bus late Thursday afternoon.
She told CBC that three disruptive passengers had boarded her bus and were playing loud music and “bullying” another passenger, despite Stepanenko asking them to stop.
“It for me was a little bit scary,” she said, as she felt surrounded by the three men.
Stepanenko said she spoke to the driver about the men and was told there was a special constable who could deal with them at the next stop.
While two of them did get off the bus, the third man wouldn’t leave — and Stepanenko said he became angry with her when he thought she was taking his picture.
Brianna Lynn was an eyewitness to what came next.
“He kept getting closer. [She] pushed him away, he lunged at her,” Lynn said shortly after the incident. “Out of his backpack, he pulled a gun and shot her.”
Police arrested a 20-year-old Ottawa man shortly afterward. He faces 10 charges, including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and pointing a firearm.
Pellet still lodged in her leg
As she was lying on the floor of the bus — and then in the ambulance — Stepanenko said she thought of her 21-year-old blind cat, Myha, who also made the journey to Canada from Ukraine.
Stepanenko said she wondered what Myha would think had happened if she never came home again, an experience she described as “triggering.”
At the hospital, doctors decided they couldn’t remove the pellet. Stepanenko said she’ll need to see a specialist since it burrowed so deep into the muscle.
“It’s a memory of my life in Canada,” Stepanenko joked over text.
“If doctors will not take [it out], it will stay with me forever.”
While fights on city buses aren’t uncommon, Sally Thomas, a member of the Ottawa Transit Riders’ board of directors, said Thursday evening’s incident was the first she’d heard of a gun being brandished on OC Transpo.
Thomas said the city and OC Transpo could have taken steps to potentially prevent the shooting before it happened.
“The city is cutting services that help people deal with their emotions,” she said. “They are cutting services that help youth find things to do that are productive, to help them with their mental health, to help them be positive members of our communities.
“And when you cut the services meant to help people, they take matters into their own hands.”
Internal investigation underway
OC Transpo is “fully co-operating” with Ottawa police while also conducting an “internal safety investigation” to determine exactly what happened, said Katrina Camposarcone-Stubbs, transit services public information officer, in a statement to CBC.
“The safety of our customers and employees is OC Transpo’s top priority,” Camposarcone-Stubbs wrote.
The agency refused to comment further, citing the police investigation.
As for Stepanenko, she said the shooting has left her wondering if OC Transpo should accept passengers who are a risk to the safety of other riders.
“Now I will think of [whether or not] I can say something to the young people,” she said. “It’s triggering, and it’s unsafe.”