GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A mother of four was making preparations Wednesday night for Thanksgiving dinner at a home on Quigley Boulevard SW, when she heard the sound of multiple gunshots.
That's when the oldest child screamed out, and then a five-year-old girl was struck by a bullet.
It was around 9:57 p.m. Wednesday.
At last report from Grand Rapids Police, the five-year-old was still in a hospital Thursday evening with critical injuries - bullet fragments in her skull and to the right side of her head, per a family friend. She underwent surgery Thursday afternoon. Her 17-year-old brother also was shot - purportedly a bullet grazed his right shoulder - but he has since been released from the hospital.
A family friend tells FOX 17, "I just keep thinking about the five-year-old; she was happy and playing, and hugging on me just a couple of days ago."
The family friend also says the family is afraid to return to the home. So, friends of the victims have set up a a GoFundMe page to raise money so the family can relocate to a "safe home".
"You don't want to take that risk of coming back and not knowing who did this - and not knowing the exact reason why is unsettling."
Police say the shots evidently came from outside the home, which is in the 100 block of Quigley, near Buchanan Avenue and not far from Burton Street. No suspect description has been released yet.
Says GRPD Lieutenant Pat Merrill, "No one deserves to be a victim of violent crime; least of all, children in our city...it doesn't change the work that we do, but I think it does change the enthusiasm with which our officers do it."
Lieutenant Merrill says the police Detective Unit has "several leads that (it's) pursuing."
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Grand Rapids Police Department, or Silent Observer, at (616) 774-2345.
----------
FOX 17's Candese Charles and James Gemmell contributed to this report.
