It may be another case where the Summer of the Gun shows just what both police and the public are up against. And now authorities are in hot pursuit of an armed attacker, a man is lucky to be alive and a family is sighing in relief after an incident in the Lawrence and Allen area Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators say it all started when a man drove up to his home at
37 Flemington Road around 1pm. He was still in the car and was stunned by what he saw - a man armed with a gun approaching one of his neighbours. As he stared in disbelief, the gunman opened fire, squeezing off at least three shots. One went through his driver's side window.
Without hesitating, the father jumped on his two year-old son, who was in the back seat, and covered him as shards of glass flew into the vehicle. Mike, the grandfather of the baby boy, had just gotten home when his wife called out to him about some trouble outside. That's when he saw his son-in-law move like lightning at the sound of the gunfire to protect the toddler. "He put him on the floor ... when the guys started to shoot," he recalls. "One bullet came in the window."
Miraculously, no one was hit and there were no serious injuries - except to any lingering feelings of safety for those who live there. "I'm shaken," Mike admits. "What's going on? I've been here for 30 years, all the neighbours are friends with us."
The area has seen its share of trouble before. On July 13th, cops were called to a complex just one street over on
Edengath Court, where a man was
shot dead in front of many witnesses out enjoying a warm Friday night. Ricardo Francis was just 23 and the father of two.
There's no word on a suspect or what may have sparked this latest shooting.