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6-year-old child shot by stray bullet in Newport News

Posted at 8:53 AM, Jan 01, 2014
and last updated 2014-01-02 06:04:55-05

Newport News, Va. - Just minutes into the New Year, a 6-year-old child was rushed to the hospital, shot in the foot by a stray bullet on 27th street.

Officers responded to the incident at 12:22 New Year's morning.

“It was like World War III around here,” says William Hailey, who lives on the block where police say the shooting happened. “I mean, it was a lot of gunfire but people do that all the time.”

Police say the child will be fine, but still neighbors worry that next time the outcome will be fatal.

"It’s frightening," says Alyce Purcell, another resident of the block where the shooting occurred.

A frightening thought for Purcell, who has two young grandkids. She says she barely lets them outside to play as it is.

"Stray bullets are nothing new,” Purcell says. “They had a war going on out here in broad daylight - they were shooting."

You can still see where a stray bullet fired into her front yard fence in May.

"Somebody behind the house shot four shots into the back of the house and the fifth bullet came into the bedroom," she says.

It was the bedroom that Purcell says her four-and seven-year-old grandkids were sleeping in.

She even pointed out several of her neighbors' homes who have been hit too

"This white house over here, their house got shot into," Purcell says.

It's a harsh reality that Purcell says is getting old fast.

"I’ve been looking to move ever since but I don't want to be ran out of my neighborhood, but I want Newport News Police (to) say the shooting is still under investigation. A better quality of life for my grandkids," she says.

Newport News Police say the shooting is still under investigation.