It happened over the weekend outside a venue at the intersection of Antoine at West Little York in northwest Houston. Now that mother is talking about her terrifying experience.
She spent two days at Memorial Hermann Hospital and still went home with bullets lodged in her. The birthday girl's mom is in pain from the shooting and also hurt by what happened after.
It was the perfect Sweet 16: pretty dress, pretty cake.
"We were all smiles," shooting victim Mona Silva said.
The mother of the birthday girl was just as fancy at the masquerade-theme party, but then it went downhill.
"By the grace of God, I'm alive," Silva said.
Silva is recovering after being shot at the doorway of the banquet hall she rented for her daughter's birthday. It happened Saturday night. She says there was trouble in the parking lot and when she tried to get everyone inside, there were gunshots.
"Two of them came straight at me because the two of them hit me straight the abdomen. And the other one, it the door, which was a shotgun," she said.
Her family rushed to the hospital with the ambulance. When they returned to collect the teen's gifts, the food and drinks they left and even the top two tiers of the cake were gone.
Silva thinks the hall should be responsible.
"That was her day and it was ruined," she said.
Marie Hanke with Ivy Palace Halls agreed to an interview after we talked.
"When the cleaning people came, the doors were open, the lights were on and nobody was inside, and all they found valuable was there and they returned to the people," Hanke said.
She says somebody else must have stolen the rest. They will give Silva a $200 break on her $2,700 total.
It was little consolation for a now sour Sweet 16.
"For it to end this way, it was the worst," Silva said.
Houston police have no suspects in the shooting though Silva believes someone knows who did it and just won't say.
Find Jessica on Facebook at ABC13JessicaWilley or on Twitter at @jwilleyabc13
Take ABC13 with you!
Download our free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices
