Shot passes through kids’ bedroom on Christmas Eve

By Diana McFarland

Managing editor

Adam and Angie Holland’s two small children were snug in their beds waiting on Santa Claus on Christmas Eve when a bullet flew through their bedroom.

The couple, who live at 113 Cary Street, were alerted to the gunshot when they heard glass break upstairs.

The bullet flew about four feet above the head of the Holland’s four-year-old son, Adam said.

“They were waiting on Santa and had a room full of police,” said Adam of his children, age four and one, who fortunately never woke up, not even when the police came to investigate in the shared bedroom. {mprestriction ids=”1,2,3,4,5,6″}

Neighbors reported hearing two to three rapid gunshots coming from the area around the Laundry Land Laundromat on Main Street, said Sgt. Chris Meier with the Smithfield Police.

The gunfire occurred at about 9:30 p.m.

One of the bullets entered the Holland’s house from the rear, tore through a wall and wooden door and exited through a window that faces Grace Street, Meier said.

Meier said police scoured the area for casings or a bullet, but were unable to recover anything. There was no one at the laundromat or the neighboring Here or There mower parts repair at the time of the shooting, Meier said.

Since the shooting, Angie found a part of the bullet while vacuuming, Adam said.

That fragment will be sent to the forensics lab for analysis and that will determine the caliber of the gun, which is currently unknown, Meier said.

The only gun that couldn’t go through the wall of the house would be a .22 caliber firearm, he added.

Fortunately, no one was injured, Meier said, adding that the department is putting the incident on Facebook for possible leads.

Adam said the shooting has given he and his wife an “uneasy feeling,” and they do not plan to tell the children.

Shooting into an occupied dwelling is a serious felony and can have tragic consequences. In 2003, a gunman randomly fired shots inside the Woods Edge apartment complex, and a bullet plowed through a wall, a door and an entertainment center, striking and killing 8-year-old Kyron Butler as he slept in his bunkbed. His sister was asleep in the bunk above her brother.

Anyone with information about the shooting Dec. 24 is asked to call the Crime Line at 888-LOCK-U-UP.  {/mprestriction}