Ojai Woman, 82, Hit by Stray Bullet

An 82-year-old woman was accidentally shot in the leg while gardening outside her Ojai home, authorities said Monday.

Gwen Hosle was injured about 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of Woodland Avenue. A friend drove her to Ojai Valley Community Hospital, where she was treated and released, Sheriff’s Sgt. Gregg Whitesell said.

Hosle said she heard a popping sound and then felt a sharp pain in her right calf, Whitesell said. Emergency-room doctors called deputies after determining she had been shot.

Deputies searched Hosle’s yard and found the bullet, which is a type that is used in rifles. The bullet ricocheted off Hosle’s driveway before hitting her in the calf, deputies said.

The round was probably from a deer hunter who fired in a mountain region about two miles north of Hosle’s home, deputies said. The mountain area is a legal hunting zone.

The incident has been classified as accidental, but the evidence will be forwarded to the sheriff’s major crimes unit for evaluation, authorities said.