Sleeping Teen Struck By Stray Bullet Inside South Jersey Home
By Steve Beck, Syma Chowdhry, and Jan Carabeo
WINSLOW TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- A sleeping teenage girl was struck by a stray bullet inside a South Jersey home early Monday morning.
The incident happened at about 12:30 a.m. at a home on the corner of Hathaway Drive and Heywood Lane in Winslow Township.
Investigators say the 13-year-old girl, identified as Tiya Hudson, was sleeping in her bed when a stray bullet pierced her home and struck her in the backside.
"First we really didn't believe that she was shot ... you don't believe it. Then you turn and see the hole and blood everywhere," Betty Hudson, Tiya's mom, said.
Tiya was the only one in bed at that time. Her three sisters and mother were awake.
"I just hear gunshots, so I got down and I didn't pay attention until I heard Tiya screaming and that's when I ran to my mom and we turned around, she was crawling towards us and she was bleeding," Toni Hudson, Tiya's sister, explained.
"I heard two shots and then I heard seven more, and I just called the cops," a neighbor said.
"I was in shock at the time it happened," family friend Larry Johnson said.
One bullet entered and hit Hudson, an honor student, in the lower back.
Family and friends held pressure on her wound until EMS arrived.
"It was really chaotic when it was happening, hearing their kids and trying to keep everyone calm," Johnson said.
Hudson was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden with non-life threatening injuries. Family members said she was alert and talkative on the way to hospital and she is expected to be OK.
Across the street, a 56-year-old woman was also injured.
She was cut after a bullet pierced her home and shattered glass inside her bedroom.
A car was also struck by a stray bullet.
"I am concerned about my grandchildren. I want them to have a safe place to be raised. And I want to know that they are safe when they go to bed at night," Debra, a neighbor said.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Family members say they want whoever did this to be brought to justice.
"We are going to find out who they are and they are going to get what's coming to them," Betty Hudson said.
The shooting remains under investigation by the Winslow Township Police Department and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
Hudson's family tells CBS 3 Tiya will likely have to spend at least a week in the hospital. In the meantime, police are asking for the public's help. Anyone with information is asked to give them a call.
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