Man who lost his eye in shooting on Parkway West shares story

PITTSBURGH — A man who lost his eye in a shooting incident on the Parkway West while he was in Pittsburgh on a business trip in July is sharing his story.

Channel 11′s Gabriella DeLuca spoke to Bob Long, who is now having to adjust to life without an eye.

“It’s not a quick recovery at all. It’s gonna take a lot of time,” Bob Long told Channel 11.

>> Man shot in eye while traveling on Parkway West in Pittsburgh

He’s back at home in the state of Indiana, now wearing an eye patch, after spending weeks at UPMC Mercy Hospital.

“If I had known someone was coming up on my left side, and if I would have turned and looked, the bullet would have gone between my eyes, and that would have been the end of it,” Long said.

The bullet narrowly missed his brain.

“I do realize that things could have been over within a split second, but God saved me,” he said.

Cell phone video shows emergency crews at the scene, and you can see two bullet holes in Bob’s windows.

Police first believe this was a road rage shooting, but after looking at traffic cameras and seeing that Bob didn’t do anything to incite the shooting, he thinks it may be a case of mistaken identity.

“Because of the type of car that I was driving, which is a very common car, they may have mistaken me for somebody else,” Long added.

Despite that nearly deadly mistake, Long tearfully explained why he forgives Rashawn Hall, the man who police say fired the shot.

“One of the emotions I never felt through this was anger. The Bible says that we need to have forgiveness for people. And we don’t go to heaven if we don’t forgive people, I believe,” Bob said.

Bob had just beaten cancer in 2023 — and is now facing a long recovery from this incident.

If you’d like to help his family, a GoFundMe has been created.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group