Ann Arbor woman wounded during San Diego mass shooting last weekend

(WJBK) - A young woman from Ann Arbor is among seven people shot at a San Diego apartment complex over the weekend.

A 49-year-old man angry over a recent breakup carried out the mass shooting; the victim's grandparents say whatever the gunman was going through is no excuse to open fire on a group of innocent people.

The Gullats almost lost their granddaughter, Charnee James.

"She said we're in La Jolla, I said La Jolla, you don't live there right," Emmuel Gullat said. "She said we are at a pool party. I said that is a high rent district out there. She said we just want to see how the other half lives."

This was not what 24-year-old Charnee was expecting. On Sunday, she called her grandfather Emmuel from the birthday party at the pool to talk about permanently moving to San Diego. A few hours later he received another phone call from his niece that Charnee had been shot.

"(She said) I don't want you guys to panic but Charnee is ok but she has been shot and I am following the ambulance to the hospital," Emmuel said.

Charnee is originally from Ann Arbor, who recently graduated from Michigan State University, was supposed to start her new job on Tuesday - instead she is recovering from gun shots to both calves.

They were told the suspect, Peter Selis, showed up at the apartment pool and when a guy from the party asked him if he wanted to join the party, that's when he pulled the gun out.

Selis called his girlfriend to listen and with a beer in hand, began shooting. Charnee and six other people were struck - one woman fatally.

Charnee's cousin helped get her to safety.

"She ran back, Charnee was on the ground," said grandmother Deborah Gullat. "And Charnee says 'I can't walk, I can't move.' She said 'Charnee you have to get up, he is reloading.'"

Police eventually killed Selis. San Diego authorities say the suspect was massively in debt and was upset over a break up.

But Charnee's grandmother believes the people struck by gunfire may have been targeted.

"My husband doesn't agree with me but I think it was a hate crime," said Deborah. "Because they were black and a few Hispanics."

"I kept thinking about Sandy Hook and Columbine and I said you see those on TV but that doesn't hit home," Emmuel said. "You are sad for those people but what happens when it hits home - you think we don't need all these guns."

All of this was made harder because Charnee's grandparents live in Ann Arbor and her mother was out of the country on vacation at the time.  They were unable to get in contact with Charnee for several hours.

The 24-year-old is expected to recover from her wounds but the recovery both physically and emotionally is far from over.

"My daughter says she keeps repeating everything over and over, 'Why, we didn't do anything,'" Deborah said. "She said we know you didn't. She kept saying over and over 'So much blood.'"

Charnee was supposed to start her new job Tuesday but her grandparents had them call the new workplace and tell them she would not be able to start.