8-month-old wounded after shots fired outside home travel through walls, NC cops say

An 8-month-old girl suffered a gunshot wound Tuesday night, after bullets fired in a neighborhood brawl passed through the walls of a home, according to the Shelby Police Department.

The condition of the infant was not released Wednesday.

Investigators say it happened around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday at a home in the 200 block of Putnam Street. That’s on the south side of Shelby, which is about 40 miles west of Charlotte.

The infant was taken to Atrium Health Cleveland., then later flown to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where she remained Wednesday, police said in a news release.

No arrest has been made in the case.

“The preliminary investigation indicates an altercation occurred outside of the home where shots were fired,” police said. “The child was inside the residence at the time the shots were fired and was struck by a bullet that traveled through an outside wall of the home.”

The bullet lodged in the infant’s lung, family members posted on Facebook.

An estimated 15 shots were fired as two groups argued near the home, and one of the bullets struck the baby in the back, the Shelby Star reports.

“The mother says they were in bed together,” Shelby Police Lt. Scott Champion told station WSOC. “She was holding the baby at the time the shots rang out and the baby was struck.”

The shots may have been fired by someone driving by the home, the station said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 1:15 PM with the headline "8-month-old wounded after shots fired outside home travel through walls, NC cops say."