WILDWOOD – Police officers and firefighters have received letters of gratitude commending them for their response to the accidental shooting last summer of a Lithuanian student whose first name, when translated into English, is Hope.
The officers and firefighters on March 12 received copies of a letter from Lithuanian Ambassador to the U.S. Audra Plepyte, thanking them for “taking decisive action” to save Vilte Gruzdyte, 20, who had been shot in the head.
Gruzdyte had taken a summer job with Morey’s Piers on a temporary work visa. She was in Wildwood for less than a week when, at around 10:30 p.m. July 9, near the corner of Pacific and East Spicer avenues, she was struck by a bullet fired by William C. Hoyle, 40, of Wildwood, according to police.
She was not Hoyle’s intended target; he fled the scene before turning himself in to Camden police on July 11. He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, among other charges. He is scheduled for a court appearance April 11 before Judge Bernard DeLury.
Meanwhile, Gruzdyte was transported to AtlantiCare Medical Center, where she was admitted with a single bullet wound.
John Lynch, director of sales and entertainment with the Greater Wildwood Tourism Investment and Development Authority, took particular interest in Gruzdyte’s plight and helped accommodate her family as she received medical treatment.
Lynch attended the March 12 commissioners meeting where the letters of gratitude were presented to the officers and firefighters, and he updated the public on Gruzdyte’s condition.
“Velte is a story of miracles,” Lynch said.
He said the first miracle was that Wildwood first responders, who had been assisting with an incident in North Wildwood, were returning to the city when they received the call about the shooting and went directly to the scene.
“The miracle is you dropped what you were doing and went to the scene. It’s just what you do,” he said.
The second miracle, he said, was that the doctor on duty at AtlantiCare happened to be a neurosurgeon. A third miracle, he said, was that a cancer doctor who was a Lithuania native was also available to assist with language or whatever else was needed.
“She basically held Vilte’s hand until her mother arrived from Lithuania,” Lynch said.
Lynch said Gruzdyte’s mother and grandmother arrived and stayed in New Jersey until Nov. 6, when Vilte was well enough to travel. He said that over those approximately four months, people donated $104,000 to a GoFundMe campaign set up to help her and her family.
Now back in Lithuania, Gruzdyte is able to walk and talk, but still has some loss of function in her left arm. Hopes are for a full recovery.
Lynch said Gruzdyte asked him to express how much she appreciates the care she was given and the concern expressed for her well-being. Addressing the first responders, who had been called to a shooting scene, he said: “She said to thank you for putting her life ahead of your own.”
The GoFundMe page set up for Gruzdyte said the medical bills were expected to be extensive, and that its organizers also sought to help her family members with the cost of travel and accommodations.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
