Stray bullet almost hits child
What seems to be a stray bullet almost hit a child in the early hours of the morning on October 11 in a house in Selection Park.
Alan Slatter was woken at about 3:05am morning to the sound of his house alarm going off.
“I went to see where the alarm had been triggered and it said it was in the children’s room. My heart dropped and I rushed to the room, thinking someone had broken in through my children’s bedroom window,” he says.
His two young boys Jaun (9) and Dean (8) were sitting up in bed, scared stiff. They told Alan they had heard a very loud bang and it had sounded like the window had exploded.
“The bullet had come through the window and hit Dean’s duvet and landed on the floor just below Jaun’s bed. If it was a little higher, it would have gone straight into Dean,” says a horrified Alan.
Because the window security bars were not broken or tampered with, Alan thinks the bullet was a stray one from the street.
“I just want people to know that there are innocent lives in danger if they go around shooting in residential areas. I’m just so thankful my boys were lucky and the bullet didn’t hit either of them.”
Springs police spokesman Captain Johannes Ramphora says the bullet was sent to the forensics department.
“We sent it away to see what kind of firearm was used so that we can try to trace it. At this point, we cannot be certain if it was an attempted break in or a stray bullet.”
Capt Ramphora says because children were almost harmed in this instant, a case of attempted murder has been opened at the Springs Police Station.
