The New Jersey pet-shop owner shot in the face with a crossbow says her attacker didn’t utter a “single word” before firing at point-blank range — and seemed hell-bent on killing her.
“I don’t know what was going through his head, he just came in and shot me. Not a single word,” Katarina Rukavishnikova, co-owner of Birds by Joe 2 on Route 46 in Saddle Brook, told NBC 4 on Thursday under the surname “Ruk.”
Rukavishnikova was working Monday evening when her attacker launched his shocking assault, authorities said — without giving a possible motive for the crime.
The triggerman, identified as Raymond M. Carey of nearby Hasbrouck Heights was a regular at the shop, Rukavishnikova told the outlet.
“He’s very quiet, reserved, comes and gets his [pet] food and leaves,” she told the outlet.
But Monday, Carey allegedly walked into the store with a small crossbow and began mumbling as he walked to the back.
“I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said.’ And he pointed the crossbow and shot me, point-blank,” she said.
“His intent was to kill me, more than likely,” Rukavishnikova said.
Security cameras from a neighboring business captured Rukavishnikova and Carey running out of the shop after she bravely wrestled the crossbow out of his hands, the outlet reported.
“I don’t know if it was jammed or he was trying to reload it. Then I jumped in and took the crossbow, pulled the arrow out of my mouth and went running screaming for help,” she said.
“I pulled the arrow out of my mouth and went running, screaming for help,” Rukavishnikova said.
The shop owner told the outlet she escaped with a couple of broken upper and lower teeth — some of which still need to be removed.
Rukavishnikova returned to work the next day — though she says she is still constantly afraid. The fear is enough for her to consider closing shop with her co-owner, Joe Reilly.
“Constantly shaking, looking over my shoulder. Everywhere I go I’m looking around. He has taken peace of mind from me,” she said.
“It’s leaning toward us having to close here because I don’t know if I feel safe.”
Carey fled after the assault, but local and federal authorities collared him in a tiny Jersey Shore town near Toms River at about 1 p.m. the next day, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said.
He’s been charged with first-degree attempted murder, among other things, and imprisoned in Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, according to court records.
Rukavishnikova has had a run of rough luck over the last few months — in late January, a brazen thief swiped a $7,000 parrot during a wild daylight sortie.
The suspect — 24-year-old Onyx Calderon of Paterson — waltzed into her store and asked to see the pricey African Grey parrot before fleeing with the pricey bird.
Cops eventually recovered the bird at a Paterson home earlier this month after a tip, Rukavishnikova told The Post last month.
