Police: Mother, baby shot while sleeping in Lithonia

LITHONIA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A mother and her infant are expected to be okay after police say they were both hit by bullets while sleeping in their Lithonia home Monday night.

According to the DeKalb County Police Department, the house on Wildginger Run was shot at at least five times around 9 p.m. They say the 29-year-old mom was shot and her 7-month-old son was grazed by a bullet.

A neighbor tells Atlanta News First one of the people who live in the home came to her house to ask her to call 911. Her son, a doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital, heard that people had been shot and went to help the victims while they waited for an ambulance.

The baby was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and the mother is expected to recover.

Police say they do not believe the two victims were the intended targets of the shooting. Multiple people live in the home, according to officials.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance videos from neighbors and continue to investigate.

John Stephens lives a few doors down and heard the gunfire.

“It sounded like somebody was knocking on my door or banging on my door,” Stephens said. “I heard shots boom, boom, boom, boom. And a few seconds later, I heard other shots, boom, boom, boom, boom.”

Investigators are also looking into the possibility that the shooting may have happened following a disagreement between young men who live in the house and another group of young men outside the home.

Neighbors said there have been issues before.

“I’ve lived over here for about 11 years and you never get used to it because you think the next one is going to be your house,” Stephens said.

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