Bullets narrowly miss sleeping children inside Paterson home

PATERSON, New Jersey (WABC) -- Two children in New Jersey were nearly shot when bullets came flying through their bedroom wall early Friday.

Authorities believe at least four shots struck a home on 7th avenue and Alois Place in Paterson around 3 a.m.

The bullets narrowly missed a 9-year-old and an 11-month-old baby girl, who were sleeping.

Valerie Freeman is the baby's grandmother and the 9-year-old's cousin. She spoke to Eyewitness News.

"I'm very, very angry, but I thank God that the bullets didn't hit her or my little cousin," she said. "The power of that gun, for it to come through the cement, sheet rock, it was a powerful gun."

The bullets struck both the first and second floors.

"The fact that people don't value human life or have any compassion, it's just something," she said.

A lifelong Paterson resident who has been passionately involved in her community for years, Freeman now fears she may have no other choice but to move due to gun violence.

"I'm upset, but I'm also thankful," she said. "It's a wake up call. You try to stay here. You try to change the city. You do everything in your power to try to change where you live. Because this is where I grew up. And everything about me is here and Paterson."

A nearby surveillance camera owned by the city of Paterson wasn't working at the time of the shooting.

"I just thank God that they are fine," family friend Dellwanna Miller said. "The baby is fine. The kids are fine. My friend is fine. Everyone is fine."