‘Long road ahead’: Lincoln woman recovering after being attacked with brick

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Wrong place, wrong time — that’s how it went for Victoria Masters late at night on Friday, June 14, near 17th and Sumner streets.
“I was going to drop my 16-year-old daughter off at one of her friends house,” Victoria said. “And there was a man outside, probably like 50 feet from the house that she was getting dropped off, and he was yelling things.”
The yelling man—who authorities say is 25-year-old Deangelo Aden—turned on them.
“I got back in the car, just because I wasn’t gonna involve myself with like trouble and drama,” Ashantae Masters, Victoria’s daughter said.
Still, that trouble came for them—traveling at the speed of thrown rocks, chipping at their van, and a brick, hurled through an open window. The brick collided with Victoria’s side.
“I couldn’t breathe at all,” Victoria said. “Like, something’s really wrong. I couldn’t really even talk because I couldn’t get my voice or air.”
Victoria floored the van around the corner, scrambling to get away.
“I was really just like in shock.,” Ashantae said. “Like, I really just didn’t know like what I was going to do because I didn’t have anyone to call.”
The two silently hoped each of Victoria’s pained breaths wouldn’t be the last.
“It would just change like everything, like it’s always just been my mom and like us kids,” Ashantae said.
A friend came to take Victoria to the hospital. She had broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
“That was the most scary and most painful thing I’ve ever gone through,” Victoria said.
Victoria spent a few days in the hospital, until she could breathe on her own. She was released from Bryan West on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a really long road ahead,” she said. “They told me there’s gonna be a lot of physical therapy.”
She has her business to run, Masters Touch Accounting, and six kids to take care of.
“She’s usually our strong suit, but like, now that we have to be her strong suit, it’s just hard,” Ashantae said.
Victoria said she just hopes Aden gets the help he needs, and as she limps down the road to recovery, Victoria said she’s grateful to be alive.
“Even taking a breath, you don’t realize how grateful you should be for your good health and what you’re able to do,” she said.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Victoria to help her pay her bills and get back on her feet.