Young girl traumatized after Kensington shooting, family says
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 7-year-old is recovering after she was hit by a stray bullet while sleeping inside her great-grandmother's home in Philadelphia's Kensington section.
We are only five days into the new year, and this is the first child that has become a victim of the city's gun violence.
The 7-year-old girl is still in the hospital on Thursday night with her mother by her side. She was simply visiting her great-grandmother when more than a dozen shots were fired outside.
"Right now my insides are shaking," Ginny Frizzle said.
Nerves are still rattled after a gunfight in the 2900 block of Rutledge Street in Kensington.
Family members tell CBS Philadelphia that 7-year-old Melanie Lopez was sleeping in the living room, next to her great-grandmother, when at least 14 shots were fired.
"She woke up scared because she heard the popping sound and then she ran over to me and when I told her, 'Bend down, they're shooting.' I saw her leg with blood on it," Helen Figueroa, the child's great-aunt, said.
Melanie was laying down in a chair when at least one bullet went through the front door and hit the little girl near her left ankle.
"I went in the kitchen, I got a wash rag to put around it, went outside, saw the cops and told them that the bullet came in my door," Figueroa said.
Melanie was rushed to St. Christopher's Hospital and placed in stable condition.
Police say the shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
A 43-year-old man was shot twice in the chest and another man was shot in the face. Neighbors tell CBS Philadelphia they dropped to the floor during the shooting.
"I'm afraid to even go out anymore because you don't know what you're going to have walking down the street and it is aggravating and frustrating," Frizzle said.
Police say it all started with an argument earlier in the afternoon when a man refused to move his car that was double parked – blocking the street – and the fight intensified hours later.
"It should never lead to a gunfight over a double parked vehicle and people arguing about not being able to get down the street," Philadelphia police captain John Walker said. "It's just unacceptable behavior."
Now, loved ones say Melanie is traumatized.
"She's still nervous about it and she don't know when she'll get to go to grandma's again because the people outside are bad," the child's great-grandmother said.
