A shooting on Long Island has shaken a family and neighbors after bullets were fired into their home, striking an 8-year-old boy sleeping inside on a couch next to his cousin.
Police in Suffolk County said a shooter is wanted for firing into the Maldonado family home in Medford before dawn on Wednesday. Jace, the young boy asleep inside the home, was struck by one of the bullets.
He was rushed to the hospital where he was recovering. Detectives, meanwhile, are trying to figure out why the home was targeted.
Iris Maldonado said about 10 shots hit her home, evidenced by the bullet holes now covering the outside. Her son was asleep on the couch when the bullet grazed his hip, and narrowly missing his cousin.
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The head of the Suffolk County Police Department said investigators are still trying to figure out who was behind the drive-by shooting.
Commissioner Rodney Harrison stopped by the house hours later and spoke with Jace after he was released from the hospital.
"He pulled up his shirt, showed the Band-Aid he had and said he was fine. I told him he was a very courageous young man," Harrison said.
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One neighbor on the block said there has never been any trouble at the Maldonado house across the street.
Phil Rodriguez said they are "very quiet, stay to themselves" and "don't bother anybody."
The police commissioner said some shots also entered an adjoining bedroom where two people were sleeping, but no one else in the home was hit.
