One year later, victim reflects on shooting

Engineering junior Mari Oishi was shot in the left thigh last January as she walked near the intersection of 38th and Walnut streets - the stray bullet came from a robbery that was occurring down the block.

Partly as a result, President Amy Gutmann pledged an additional $5 million to the Division of Public Safety to create Operation Safe, through which the security presence, technology and lighting were all increased on campus.

Yesterday, slightly more than a year after the shooting, Oishi sat down with The Daily Pennsylvanian to talk about her subsequent recovery - both physically and mentally.

The Daily Pennsylvanian: Looking back a year later, can you describe how you felt during the shooting?

Mari Oishi: It was definitely a bit of a traumatizing experience - certain aspects of it were difficult to deal with. Within two weeks, I was back at school and I was walking. I started to go out again, but I would always use the escort. It's something that's definitely changed my perspective on things. It's kind of cliche, but you can't take things for granted and [assume] that you're not prone to bad things happening to you.

DP: Are you completely physically recovered?

MO: I went through about a month or two of physical therapy. Once I started walking again, it was just a matter of strengthening muscles again so that I was not reliant on the other muscles that weren't injured. Before that, I would run a lot, and I needed to get strength back before I could just jump on a treadmill again.

DP: Immediately following the incident, you said that you no longer wanted to go outside. Has that changed? Are you still nervous being outside, especially late at night?

MO: There were some moments where there was some difficulty, but my fears never stopped me from living my normal life. Right after the incident, it was natural to be hesitant outside; I was afraid to be outside by myself at sunset. Now, I definitely don't walk by myself late at night, and I always use the escorts. But I don't really have a fear, an anxiety to look over my shoulder and see someone there.

DP: How has your day-to-day life changed as a result of the incident?

MO: The fear - it just naturally kind of dissipated. In the beginning, I was a bit traumatized, but as time went on, I kind of realized that it was okay to walk with my friends. I wanted to take a positive lesson from it; it was difficult because [at the time of the shooting] I was with a group of people - I wasn't by myself - and I felt like it wasn't even safe to walk with a group of people.

It really was almost a positive experience. Being at Penn, you're a competitive person who can get wrapped up in things that don't really matter that much. But the reaction from the school has been really positive. People would say, "Oh, your name is so unforgettable!" and "Oh, how are you? Are you okay?"

DP: The persons involved in the robbery were never arrested. Do you think an arrest would have provided more closure for you?

MO: When I was going through recovery, I never really had animosity toward the people [who shot] me. I think it's because I didn't lose the ability to walk; in some ways, I could take the positive things from it. It hasn't made my life worse. I don't want to say it made my life better, but it made it more interesting. I wasn't upset with them because I know they didn't want to hurt us.

DP: What's your opinion of the University's $5 million response to the incident and DPS's efforts to stop crime in the year since the shooting?

MO: There are parts of the initiative that you can actually see - the new yellow jackets and more security having more presence around campus. Even though there have been crime surges since the shooting, I do feel like Penn has tried to keep its students informed and safe.

DP: What advice do you have for students in terms of campus safety?

MO: Don't think you're invincible, and don't think these stories could never happen to you. Be smart about walking by yourself. Especially if you're a girl, don't be walking alone at night. I think people can get a little embarrassed to use escorts - at times, I get a little embarrassed - but I think it's a really important thing.

DP: Any other thoughts?

MO: I actually, not until yesterday, ever walked the sidewalk that the shooting happened on. I think that that shows how I've actually come a long way from when the shooting happened. It helped me put everything in perspective, to be able to visit the crime scene again. It took me a year to do that, and it kind of helped put the story all together in my mind.

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