Montgomery Grandmother Frustrated After Home Hit by Gunfire for Seventh Time
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — A Montgomery grandmother is voicing her frustration after her home was damaged by gunfire yet again — the seventh shooting at her residence in the past three years.
“There have been times where we have been in the living room, all of a sudden we hear the gunshots. We have to drop on the floor,” the homeowner said. “We may be back in the bedroom, we hear the gunshots, we have to drop on the floor.”
In the early morning hours of July 1, bullets tore through the front windows and doors of her home in Montgomery’s Ridgefield neighborhood. The woman, who asked not to be identified for her safety, said she and her husband live in constant fear.
“We were not here where the bullets went through the front door, ricocheted into a bedroom that if I had a loved one that normally sleeps in there — that just recently left — it went through the headboard,” she said. “That loved one could have easily been killed.”
She said the threat of gunfire has changed how they live and sleep.
“At night, we’re afraid to stay here. We have to stay up all night and be vigilant because we don’t know which way or how they can come, or when they’re going to come,” she said. “Then we try to sleep as much as possible. Sometimes we have to leave, and there have been times we have actually slept in our car because we’re too scared to come back during the daytime.”
The homeowner believes her family may have been targeted because of her grandson, who no longer lives with her. She said she has repeatedly asked police to investigate.
“Even if he is possibly involved in something — you know, like a gang or hanging around with people who are nothing but trouble — the police need to get them off the streets,” she said. “Interview him. When you have someone that you think is a possible suspect — and I provided that to the police — question him. There’s something, perhaps, that he knows that this may have stemmed from whatever he’s doing out there, but we should not be the victims for it.”
According to the city’s crime mapping system, the July 1 shooting is considered vandalism and is depicted with a spray-can icon instead of one that shows the reality: guns spraying bullets not paint.
“I went to a neighborhood association meeting just recently, and they had a new police officer that’s responsible for this area,” she said. “When I heard this police officer say that in the last 28 days there had been no crime, then I heard a city councilman that was also there make the statement that crime has gone down. To make that kind of statement — crime is not down. Maybe it’s down to you because it hasn’t affected you.”
“I try to be as strong as possible, even though I’m retired and have been in the military. I never thought I would have to endure a war zone. It is a war zone. I’m living in a war zone.”
The homeowner said the lack of progress finding the shooters is especially frustrating because there is surveillance video from the neighborhood that she says police have not tried to access.
