By Reid Forgrave and Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PLEASANT RIDGE - Regina Amberger left her job at Gas Light Cafe here at 3 a.m. Christmas Eve, locked her doors and drove west on Montgomery Road.

Six blocks from her workplace, the 41-year-old mother of three noticed a car pull alongside.

Amberger didn't even look up, but one or more people fired two shots into Amberger's 1991 Chrysler LeBaron before speeding away. One bullet struck her in the side.

"I didn't know I was shot until the window broke," Amberger said Wednesday morning, shortly after being released from University Hospital. "Who would do something like this, on Christmas Eve day?"

Police say it appears to be a random shooting - a rarity in Cincinnati, where the majority of shootings are drug-related, and rare as well in Pleasant Ridge.

"Based on the victim's statement, this was a random shooting," said Lt. Kurt Byrd of the Cincinnati police. "It's not something you expect to happen. A shooting for no reason at all, a random out-and-out shooting, that's really rare for Cincinnati."

Bill Baker, chairman of the safety committee for the Pleasant Ridge Community Council, said the shooting came as a shock.

"It's really a complete anomaly," Baker said. "Is it an indicator of the neighborhood getting worse? No, the neighborhood is actually getting safer. We're as safe as Hyde Park or Mount Lookout, if not safer."

Police say Pleasant Ridge is ranked as one of Cincinnati's safest neighborhoods.

Amberger said Wednesday she was going to sleep and spend time with her family.

"You hear about what's happening in Columbus," she said. "But never in my wildest dreams did I think it could happen to me, happen in Pleasant Ridge. This is every woman's worst nightmare."

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E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com