11 hours ago
Aurora police investigate after woman struck by stray bullet while in bed
A Colorado mom is worried and angry after she was struck by a stray bullet while inside her home in Aurora. It was after midnight when she heard the gunshots, and then the bullet came through the wall.
A bullet pierced the wall of the home in Aurora before striking the woman inside.
CBS
Danielle Smith has a new window to the outside in her bedroom. It's a tiny round one where a bullet came through. She can see daylight clearly.
"There's another hole in the base of my daughter's floorboard coming from the outside and there's another hole in my neighbor's bedroom," said Smith.
The bullet that made the hole continued through her arm, just inches from her head, after she had gone to bed Wednesday night to watch television. Three shots rattled the duplex after midnight.
"The fourth shot actually is the one that hit me, and I just felt my shoulder explode," she shared. She wore a bandage, and it continued to bleed on Thursday evening.
It was the second floor of a building in the 13000 block of E. 13th Place in Aurora, a few blocks from the Anschutz Medical campus. Police said she didn't appear to be the intended target and believe a stray bullet may have been fired from somewhere nearby. Officers said they didn't find any shell casings in the area around her home. The police department encouraged anyone with information on the shooting to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers.
Smith says she grew up in the area and moved back about a year ago. She has been constantly worried about crime.
Danielle Smith was struck by a stray bullet while in her home in Aurora.
CBS
"People yelling about who stole whose drugs and who stole whose girlfriend, and it's a nightmare," she said. "The neighborhood is so far gone that if even the police don't want to come out here anymore to help, there's nothing that can be done."
She says police have told her in the past they don't want to come to her street. Aurora police did not return a call late Thursday to inquire about her claim.
Smith worries not just about herself, but her 16-year-old daughter who is holding down a job.
"She works all day. So when she comes home on the bus at night, it's not a safe place for her to walk at all," she said.
Other neighbors we talked with echoed concerns, although one parent said she was not concerned for her children. At the Lopez-Gomez home in an apartment on the street, father Wilson Lopez expressed concern for his young children.
"The area is quite dangerous," he said in his native Spanish. "You hear a lot of shooting, a lot of police also at night… the area has always been, as we say, 'hot,'" he explained.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Smith is hurting both physically and mentally. And planning to move when her lease is up.
The duplex where the bullet struck a woman inside.
CBS
"I blame the city. Because it's not the first time, and it's definitely not going to be the last. I just think the last of police presence in this neighborhood is diabolical. It is scarce," she said.
Officers said they didn't find any shell casings in the area around her home.
