SHOOTING VICTIM SAYS SHE'S LUCKY TAFT STUDENT IS RECOVERING.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

The bullet that pierced Lizbeth Santana's back shattered her jaw and left her unable to use her right hand.

Yet, as one of three unintended victims of a gang-related drive-by shooting last month near Taft High School, the 17-year-old senior knows she is very fortunate.

``I am lucky,'' she said during a recent interview, her jaw wired shut while her wounds healed. ``It could have been worse. I could have died.''

Santana and two other Taft students were shot Sept. 9 as they waited for a bus at Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue. Agustine Galindo, 16, has recovered and returned to school. Paul Herzlich, 15, remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Both boys declined to be interviewed. But Santana wanted to talk about her ordeal so others would understand the horror of being shot.

On Sept. 9, Santana said, she was waiting to catch bus that takes her to her job at a Tarzana bakery, where she earns money to help support her family and her 2-year-old son.

School had gotten out early, and the bus stop was crowded with teens spilling out onto the street. One bus filled with passengers passed by, and then another one passed, empty. The crowd grew impatient.

Then, three men in a red Mitsubishi sedan pulled up to the curb, she said. One of them asked someone in the crowd, ``Where you from?'' A gang name was shouted back. And then the sound of gunshots rang out.

Santana turned and ran, then felt stabbing heat in her back.

``As soon as I felt the shot, my arm went numb,'' she said. ``I fell to the ground. I wanted to get up, but for some reason, I couldn't.''

She was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where Dr. Mark Kerner and other emergency personnel inserted a tracheotomy tube into her throat and tied off blood vessels to stanch the bleeding.

A high-powered bullet had pierced her back, nicked her spine, ricocheted off her rib, traveled through her chest and exited her mouth, breaking her jaw and severing her tongue.

``She's extremely lucky,'' Kerner said. ``If that bullet had been a centimeter or a half-inch closer to her carotid artery, she would have bled to death.''

Kerner performed hours of surgery, reconstructing Santana's jaw and reattaching her tongue. Santana spent 17 days in the hospital and now is undergoing physical therapy to help her recover use of her nerve-damaged hand.

Santana's family has medical insurance, but they applied to a Los Angeles County fund for crime victims, to help pay medical bills now totaling more than $150,000, she said.

Santana's mother, Estela, 50, breaks down and cries when she thinks about the shooting.

``This left me kind of numb,'' Estela said through a translator. She said she was still dealing with the death of her 27-year-old son, who committed suicide two months ago. ``I really didn't know what to expect. When I first saw my daughter, I didn't think she'd make it. So I asked God to give me a lot of strength.''

She said her heart goes out to the parents of the suspects, Terry Boyd Taylor, 20, of Van Nuys and Kristopher Govea, 20, of Granada Hills.

``We are not a vengeful family,'' she said. ``You see, no matter what your kids turn out to be, they're still your kids. I'll leave that in God's hands and the authorities. We don't want to add distress to these parents or the kids.''

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Lizbeth Santana cradles her injured right hand as her mother Estela weeps thinking about the Sept. 9 shooting near Taft High School that left her daughter wounded.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer