HOUSTON — Homeowners in the Rice Military neighborhood deal with a lot living so close to Washington Avenue, but this latest incident could have gotten someone killed.
Surveillance video from a neighbor's camera captured the sound of gunfire -- four shots before a car races by around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
"It's a weekend occurrence when there are reports of weapons being discharged," said Mark Fairchild, president of the Rice Military Civic Club.
But this time, a bullet ended up inside a woman's bedroom at a townhouse inside the Caceres gated community.
"When something like this happens, it wakes them up," said Fairchild. "It can happen to anybody."
The woman who awoke to the sound of gunfire and a bullet ripping through her window and into her ceiling shared photos of how close that bullet came to hitting her.
"This absolutely could have ended differently," said Fairchild. "I think people are uneasy about something like this happening in a community like ours."
The Houston Police Department believes it does not appear to be targeted.
Fairchild said it's the latest incident in years worth of crime and problems spilling into the community from Washington Avenue.
"There is a cause and effect," said Fairchild. "A direct correlation between what happens on the Washington strip and what happens in our neighborhoods."
It's why council member Abbie Kamin has been working with neighbors for years trying to improve safety, including increased patrols, but she admits there's much more work to do.
Kamin released the following statement to KHOU 11 News:
“Gun violence is out of control and we have to do everything we can to address it. Guns are now the number one cause of death for children in America and when we talk about violent crime, a lot of that involves firearms.
The number of guns on our streets being used irresponsibly is unacceptable. Residents are at wits end with both bad-actor bars and gun-violence.
In partnership with our residents in the area, we're throwing everything we can at this issue from a district perspective. But with no zoning to prevent night-club activity from being next door to residents and a State that refuses to implement common sense gun safety reforms, initiatives my office has undertaken- including gun safety programs and law enforcement resources for additional patrols- can only go so far. Residents need more and the fact that someone had a bullet fly into their home is simply not ok."
"This is a problem that is becoming a pervasive problem across the city," said Fairchild.