A leisurely walk after a long day turned into a painful brush with gun violence for a Mesa mom of six.

Police say they now have the gunman in custody, and the mom who was hit by bullet fragments is now sharing what happened.

Imagine walking down the street with your dog, you hear a loud popping noise, you look down and there’s blood all over your legs.

That’s the reality for Jessica Hallstead, who says she cannot believe that she has to call herself a gunshot survivor.

“I feel incredibly blessed that I got to go home to my six babies, that they were able to see me before they fell asleep that night, because this could’ve been everything. Their whole life would’ve been shattered,” Hallstead said in tears and with several tissues in hand.

For Hallstead, those tears are full of trauma and an altered reality.

She says she has bullet fragments up and down her legs. Too many to count.

Doctors told her one fragment nicked an artery.

Hallstead walked Arizona’s Family through what happened. She says she was walking in the area of Val Vista Drive and Adobe Street in Mesa on Sunday evening.

“All the sudden I hear a pop,” Hallstead said, eyes swelling with more tears.

At first, Hallstead says she wondered what the sound was, then within seconds she felt sharp pains through her body.

“I look up, and I see an open window and a house and at that moment I thought, oh no was I actually shot by someone?”

She got herself to a safer area and dialed 911.

“As soon as paramedics had me, they [Mesa Police] had their guns and started walking away to figure out what was going on.”

Mesa detectives say 23-year-old Sebastian Castro fired his gun from the balcony of his home, hitting Hallstead.

Why? Police are still trying to figure that out.

Investigators say when they first questioned Castro, he tried to hide the gun and lied to officers. He was arrested on site.

As for Hallstead, she says she feels some freedom has been stripped from her.

But she is thankful to be alive.