When she was 18, Caheri Gutierrez had half her face blown off in a drive-by shooting. In was nighttime, November, 2008, at the intersection of 98th Avenue and San Leandro Street, in Oakland.
The bullet burst through the passenger side window out of nowhere. It ripped through her face and stopped in the right arm of her friend driving the car.
When Gutierrez awoke in the hospital a week later, she was intubated, she had lost the hearing in her right ear, her face was paralyzed, and she had no teeth.