Family shot at while attempting to report house fire in Compton; mother's head grazed by bullet
"My mind was just like, 'I can't believe we're being shot at right now,'" said the mother, who's still recovering from her injury.
COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- A family is on edge after a gunman shot at their vehicle in Compton Saturday night while they were trying to report a house fire in the area, and they're calling on the city to boost its safety efforts.
It happened in 1200 block of Rosecrans Avenue.
The parents told Eyewitness News they were with their daughter driving home from a Christmas Party when they came across a burning home. As the parents got the address of the house to report the fire, they said a car pulled up next to them.
That's when two men got out of the vehicle and began shooting at the family, they said.
"My mind was just like, 'I can't believe we're being shot at right now,'" said the mother, who did not wish to be identified. "As we were driving down the street away from the gunmen, they were chasing us down the street still shooting at us. I'm more than sure they both emptied their guns on us but eight of those bullets ended up hitting our car and the other ones were just free bullets."
The bullets struck the young girl in the car, but she wasn't seriously injured.
The mother's head was grazed by a bullet but a doctor told the family her hair bun was able to keep the bullet from piercing her skull.
"The bullet was so hot that it singed some of my hair off and it left a mark so it's scabbed over right now," the mother said. "There was not that much bleeding at all."
Now, the woman and her husband are calling on the city of Compton to install more street lights and cameras to prevent future crimes like this.
"The city of Compton could take this seriously and put some more lights in that area and all the other dark spots and cameras so they can capture these gunmen," the mother said.
They said they were simply trying to do the right thing but almost got killed. As of Monday evening, no one has been arrested in the shooting.
"It's something that shouldn't be happening," said the husband. "We shouldn't be scared just to do a good deed for somebody. We thought we were there to help somebody out but it ended up being a whole different story."
A GoFundMe has since been created for the family to help them with unexpected expenses.
