She Was Shot 7 Times—and Still Lived to Tell It: The Harrowing Survival of Tyra Rogers in Roseville, Minnesota

On the evening of June 13, in Roseville, Minnesota, Tyra Rogers was behind the wheel of her car, navigating the roads of the Twin Cities metro area with a simple, familiar purpose: transporting her mother and her young daughter home. It was a task she had likely performed many times before—routine, even mundane in its predictability. But this particular drive, which began on the east side of St. Paul after picking her mother up from a bar, would veer into unimaginable horror. What unfolded that night has since become a chilling focal point in the local community—and a developing investigation that continues to reverberate through multiple lives.

As Rogers merged onto the thoroughfare, a truck pulled up beside her vehicle. Without warning or provocation disclosed by the report, someone inside the truck opened fire. The gunfire erupted with terrifying precision and devastating impact. Tyra Rogers was struck not once, but seven times. Bullets tore into her legs, her back, and her abdomen. Each shot carried the lethal intent of ending a life. One bullet—mere inches from altering the story irrevocably—narrowly missed her daughter’s car seat, a haunting detail that underscores the sheer chaos and danger of the assault.

The Victim: Tyra Rogers
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Tyra Rogers exhibited an extraordinary will to live. Despite the trauma of multiple gunshot wounds, she did not lose consciousness. She remained lucid, alert enough to speak with the officers who arrived at the scene, a remarkable feat considering the extent and location of her injuries. Victims of abdominal gunshot wounds often experience rapid blood loss and shock; that Rogers was still able to communicate points not only to prompt emergency response but to her own profound resilience.

In trauma medicine, survival after multiple gunshot wounds—especially to areas rich in vital organs and major arteries—is far from guaranteed. Each shot to the abdomen, for example, risks damaging the liver, stomach, intestines, or kidneys. Shots to the legs may sever femoral arteries, leading to massive hemorrhaging. A shot to the back raises the specter of spinal injury or lung collapse. For Rogers to have survived, stabilized, and remained conscious in those first moments is an exceptional outcome by any measure.

Emergency responders acted quickly, transporting her to a medical facility where surgeons closed her abdomen with over 20 surgical staples. The image of a body sealed with two dozen staples suggests not only extensive internal repair but also the intensive care required to stave off infection, organ failure, or sepsis. Her condition post-surgery, though stabilized, remains painful and restrictive. As of the last update, she continues to endure limited mobility, with everyday tasks made difficult, if not impossible.

The Unseen Passenger: A Child Caught in Crossfire
Equally haunting as the physical injuries is the psychological trauma that lingers, especially concerning Rogers’s daughter—who was in the car at the time of the shooting. She was unharmed, but this word belies the deeper psychological impact that an incident like this can imprint on a child. One bullet came terrifyingly close to her car seat, a proximity that redefines the concept of safety and childhood innocence. That she was later found in the ambulance, quietly playing with stickers handed to her by a responding officer, adds a layer of surreal poignancy to the scene. In the face of violence, the child’s instinct was to find solace in the simplest gestures of kindness.

While no immediate injury was reported, experts in child psychology might note that witnessing such an event—especially involving a parent—can have long-lasting emotional consequences. Even if her memory of the event remains fragmented, the anxiety and behavioral echoes could emerge later. The role of trauma-informed care becomes critical in such instances, not only for the child but for the family unit as a whole.

A City, A Setting, A Scene
Roseville, a first-ring suburb of the Twin Cities, lies at a crossroads—both geographically and sociologically. Nestled between the urban pulse of Minneapolis and St. Paul, it reflects a blend of suburban quietude and metropolitan proximity. The shooting, which began after a bar pickup in St. Paul’s east side and continued into Roseville, traverses communities often linked by transportation corridors but divided by economic and racial lines.

St. Paul’s east side has historically been an area marked by a high density of working-class families, many of them from communities of color. While the article doesn’t detail Rogers’s background or the assailant’s identity, the sociological context of that area often intersects with the complex dynamics of urban violence, policing, and public safety.

That this incident spilled into Roseville is not just a function of roadways—it is symbolic of how issues once considered confined to specific neighborhoods increasingly transcend those invisible borders. Drive-by shootings, which surged in certain American cities during the 2020-2022 period, have left lasting public safety concerns. While national data has shown some decline in violent crime in 2023 and 2024, incidents like this remain devastating anomalies that shake public confidence.

The Investigation: A Silence Still Waiting for Answers
Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the narrative so far is the absence of closure. According to police, the case remains under investigation. That simple statement carries a world of implications. It suggests that the shooter remains unidentified and unapprehended. It means there has been no arrest, no charge, and no resolution for a woman whose life has been violently disrupted.

This raises significant questions about the resources being directed toward solving the case. In many communities, particularly those with strained relationships with law enforcement, the clearance rates for non-fatal shootings can be troublingly low. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics has shown that while homicides often receive intensive investigative attention, non-fatal shootings can fall through the cracks, especially when no immediate suspect or motive is identified.

Why was Tyra Rogers targeted? Was this an act of mistaken identity, a targeted hit, or a random act of road rage turned violent? These are not merely rhetorical inquiries—they go to the heart of investigative priorities and public expectations. Each day without answers compounds the trauma, not only for Rogers but for her family, her friends, and a broader community watching with increasing unease.

The Human Cost: Pain, Recovery, and Resilience
Medical recovery from multiple gunshot wounds is not merely a matter of physical healing—it is a multidimensional ordeal. Rogers is reportedly unable to work, an economic consequence that compounds her already difficult reality. Friends have stepped in to organize a fundraiser, a gesture of community solidarity but also a stark reminder of systemic gaps in trauma support.

This form of grassroots aid reflects a larger national pattern. In America, where gun violence is both tragically common and uniquely normalized, victims often depend on crowdfunding platforms for post-trauma survival. Hospital bills, lost wages, therapy, mobility aids—these costs accumulate rapidly and cruelly.

Meanwhile, the path back to daily life is long and uncertain. Pain management, physical therapy, psychological support, and re-entry into a world that may now feel unpredictably dangerous all form part of that uncharted journey. The phrase “limited mobility” does not capture the full scale of this transformation. A mother once capable of driving across cities, now potentially reliant on others for transportation. A provider, now forced into dependency. A survivor, perhaps waking in the night to echoes of gunfire and the fear it instilled.

The Symbolism of a Stapled Stomach
If there is a central image from this event that encapsulates its brutality and survival, it is Rogers’s abdomen—closed by over 20 surgical staples. The body, once opened by bullets, sealed back together by medical intervention. It is a visual testament to what trauma leaves behind: a body repaired, but marked; a life spared, but altered.

Each staple becomes a metaphor for the work of reconstruction—not only for the skin and organs they hold together, but for the life that must be pieced back around them. And for the community that surrounds her, these staples represent a moral imperative: to not let what happened on June 13 fade into procedural limbo.

A Call to Attention: What Happens Now?
This case now sits at a critical juncture. Public attention, if sustained, can generate pressure on law enforcement, galvanize public officials, and inspire policy dialogue. If allowed to dissipate, however, it risks joining the growing ledger of unresolved urban gun violence—statistics without stories, wounds without names.

Tyra Rogers’s survival is not just a personal miracle. It is a public challenge. It demands that the community, law enforcement, and the broader system reckon with what allowed such an event to occur and what is being done to prevent the next.

Even as the investigation continues, Rogers’s story deserves to be remembered not only for its horror but for its strength. She was shot seven times and survived. That is the headline. But what follows must be more than astonishment—it must be action, inquiry, and care.

Let her story be more than a footnote in the crime blotter. Let it become a fulcrum around which questions of justice, recovery, and accountability turn.