Appeal For Critically Injured Bystander in Wildwood Shooting

A GoFundMe appeal has been established to help Vilte Gruzdyte with medical bills as she struggles to recover from injuries after being shot in the head in Wildwood earlier this month.

The woman has a brain injury that is expected to require long-term intensive care.

Visiting Foreign Student Has Brain Injury After Wildwood Shooting

Vilte Gruzdyte, a Lithuanian college student who was working in Wildwood in an educational exchange program this summer was an innocent bystander on July 9 when she was shot near the Cattle ‘n Clover pub and steakhouse in the 3800 block of Pacific Avenue in Wildwood.

She arrived in June and was working at Morey's Piers and Water Parks as a lifeguard.

The GoFundMe post says that a stray bullet hit Vilte while she was out for a night with friends.

After the shooting, she was taken to Atlanticare City Division where she is in critical but stable condition. Members of her family traveled from Europe and arrived shortly after the incident, and plan to remain with her through the entirety of her recovery.

Vilte has a long road ahead. Doctors have indicated that she’s showing promising signs towards recovery, though with a brain injury, it is expected that she will require long-term intensive care and in-patient physical therapy throughout her rehabilitation, much of which will happen in the United States, away from her home.

The Suspected Gunman is in Custody

The gunman wanted for a shooting that left Gruzdyte in critical condition was taken into custody two days later

Police arrested William C. Hoyle, 40 Hoyle, who was seen on video running after someone while firing a handgun.

Hoyle has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and a variety of weapons charges.

The Injured Woman Faces a Long Road to Recovery

The GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $50,000 or perhaps more, depending on the course of her recovery, was created by Wildwood's John Lynch and the Lunch With Lynch Foundation 501 (c)(3), where 100% of donations collected will be passed to Vilte’s family.

The costs associated with her recovery could be in the hundreds of thousands and include intensive rehabilitation, medical expenses not covered by her insurance, accommodation for her family, their daily travel to the hospital, flights for the parents to travel rotate between the US and Lithuania as they have two younger children at home, etc.

Vilte is the Lithuanian word for “hope.”