NH Girl Shot With BB, Nearly Blinded

NEW IPSWICH, NH (CBS) - Police are looking for the suspect who nearly blinded a young girl with a BB gun.

Tessa Kuusisto, 9, was riding in a car with a friend down Upper Pratt Road around noon on Tuesday.

"We heard a shot and then I said, 'Ow, that hurt!'" recalled Tessa.

Tessa's parents didn't realize the severity of her injury at first. They assumed the metal ball struck their daughter's face before falling. Several consultations and x-rays later, however, doctors determined the BB was lodged in muscle and soft tissue behind Tessa's left eye.

"She starts to break down and I'm trying to be as strong as I can," said Renee Kuusisto, Tessa's mother.

Doctors at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston performed two surgeries to remove the BB Wednesday.

"She'll recover. But they don't know if she's going to have her 20/20 vision back again," said Renee.

Tessa will undergo several more evaluations in Boston this week and next.

"If they come forward and if they're watching this, and if they say, 'I'm sorry, I do confess,' apology accepted," Tessa said.

"You'd forgive them?" WBZ-TV's Julie Loncich asked.

"Ya," said Tessa.

Police believe the same suspect shot at another driver hours later.