COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — As Richland County Sheriff’s Department is still investigating a shooting that left one injured on Saturday night on the 500 block of Alcott Drive in Columbia, one woman who lived in the area reached out to WACH Fox about damages from gunfire her apartment unit suffered.
Ashia Hopkins has been living at Willow Run Apartments on Alcott Drive since 2015, and Saturday’s shooting is serving as one of the final straws for her, saying one of the bullets that went into her home would’ve killed her and she no longer feels safe living there anymore.
“I seen the outcome of what transpired. And that was my neighbor end up getting shot. Blood all over the hallway. Tape everywhere,” Hopkins said.
Fortunately for Hopkins, she and her children left the complex right before Saturday’s shooting. But when she returned, she noticed some serious damages to her unit.
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Hopkins saw a bullet hole in her living room wall. She soon noticed the bullet had went from her wall into her foot rest in her living room. Hopkins soon found the bullet lying in her apartment.
“If my kids would’ve been in here playing their game or anything, how the bullet hole looked and where it got affected at, because it went from the wall to the foot rest,” Hopkins said.
The damage doesn’t end in the living room. Hopkins soon saw bullet holes in her bedroom window.
After looking more into those damages, she saw the bullet had gone through her bedroom window and into her bed, right where she typically lies down. Hopkins says if she had been lying in bed at the time of the shooting, she would’ve been killed.
“My bed is directly by my window,” Hopkins said. “It came through my bed exactly where I lie my head, and if I was in my bed at the moment, I wouldn’t be here talking to no one.”
Her mother, Regina Bailey, was home in her own unit on Saturday during the shooting and heard the first 26 rounds being fired. Bailey says when she went outside to see what was happening, she immediately noticed the damages to her daughter’s unit.
“I took my cane and I started banging on her frame saying ‘Ashia, Ashia, Ashia’ and I started crying and thinking about my grandsons, and nobody was responding,” Bailey said. “My grandchildren not living her anymore. My daughter isn’t living her anymore. And the state of South Carolina needs to know that the violence is getting worse”
Hopkins says the property manager hasn’t been at the complex since Saturday and this isn’t the first time her apartment has seen damage from gunfire. She says a bullet went through her son’s bedroom window is August.
WACH Fox has reached out to Willow Run apartments about Saturday’s incident and these concerns being raised by residents. WACH Fox is still waiting to hear back.
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