ST. LOUIS — "I was terrified. I'm still shaking about it," said Nicole Wilga.
A trembling Wilga said it was a frightening Friday night she won't forget.
"My neighbors that are my friends are texting me, 'Oh my God. What's going on? Are you okay? Everybody's worried,'" Wilga said during an interview with 5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend.
St. Louis police said it all started when a woman and a man got into an argument.
Witnesses told police the couple had a vicious fight inside an apartment on the fifth floor at the Ely Walker Lofts on Washington Avenue.
"I believe, it's a husband and wife," Wilga said. "She was just abusive. I saw her smack him upside the head so hard. He had scratches all over his face and his neck."
Wilga said, she ran to comfort the woman's young daughter.
"I was comforting the child. I was just trying to ask if [she had] a grandma or aunt I can call? I really didn't know what to do," said Wilga.
She said, the child's mother suddenly fired a gun.
"She shot at me and her daughter," Wilga said. "I had my arm around her daughter. We were walking behind her, following her and she just turned and pointed that gun at me. I thought if she shoots that gun, I'm dead. I froze for sure."
But then, she said, the woman fired a second time.
"I couldn't even have protected her daughter," the witness said. "I couldn't have jumped in front of her. I couldn't have even saved that child if I wanted to. That's just how fast it happened."
Neither she nor the child was hurt.
Police said, the woman, identified as 32-year-old Ariel McNeil, ran off but later returned and shot the man in his face.
Officers said, when they arrived, McNeil tried to take off again, but they arrested her.
"He came out on the rail, and he was injured, and he was asking for help. Multiple residents were calling 911," another tenant, Marcien Caron said.
Friday's incident happened one year to the day after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in the lobby of the Ely Walker Lofts.
Concerned aldermen and other community leaders have submitted what they call a "Five-Point Safety Plan" to the city in hopes of keeping the peace in downtown St. Louis.
A plan Fifth Ward Alderman James Page said may include Ely Walker Lofts.
"And addressing a plethora issue including violence at the lofts building. The safety plan also includes addressing it from a problem property standpoint which I think is a good start. I should also tell you in recent months I have met with tenants and owners of this loft building," said Alderman Page, who's also the executive director of the Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Nicole Wilga has had enough.
"Yes, I am moving," Wilga said.
On Saturday, 5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend called the Ely Walker Lofts to get their reaction to the shooting and tenants' concerns. A woman answered, but then hung up on him.