CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A neighborhood is on edge after a stray bullet went inside a family’s home in Dilworth.
It happened early Monday morning on Lombardy Circle with two children inside at the time.
On Tuesday, police told NBC Charlotte the gunfire was connected to an attempted car break-in nearby. The suspect opened fire after being confronted by a neighbor one block over from where the house was struck, police said.
Neighbors described hearing the unsettling sound around 3 a.m. on Monday.
“It was really windy,” said neighbor, Jonathan Piscitelli. “I thought it was maybe a tree that had fallen on a transformer.”
“Both my wife and I thought we were just dreaming,” said neighbor, Matt Lauro.
However, they now know it wasn’t a dream or a storm but rather gunfire. The house across from the Lauros had a bullet hole in the upstairs window. A 13-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl were home at the time.
Lauro is thinking about his own child too, who is not even a year old.
“It swung by his nursery, probably, so that’s just scary to think about it,” Lauro told NBC Charlotte.
Police on scene said the gunfire came from one block over.
“Someone banged on my door and it was the police with my neighbor,” Piscitelli said.
Piscitelli said his neighbor in a duplex confronted a group of suspects breaking into his car.
“Came out, chased them away, and as they were running away they opened fire,” Piscitelli said.
The bullet hole is an unusual sight for people living in Dilworth.
“It’s really a safe area being this close to the city,” Lauro said.
“Charlotte is a great city, Dilworth is a great neighborhood. But at the same time, these things have the potential to happen anywhere,” Piscitelli said.
Now, neighbors are thinking ahead about how to keep their community safe.
“Locking car doors, so you don’t bring these types of people around,” Piscitelli said.
Police on scene tell NBC Charlotte about four suspects were involved in the break-ins.
So far, no arrests have been made.