MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A South Florida family spoke to Local 10 News Friday, who said their neighborhood in southwest Miami-Dade has been plagued by gun violence.
Leslie Bess said she is counting her blessings after bullets flew threw her home Thursday night.
A bullet remains lodged in a picture frame while another went through the wall. On the other side is a chair that she always sits in to watch TV.
"It's just not right. It's not right. I just feel bad," Bess said.
Bess said she's blessed no one was hurt, but said she's frustrated raising her niece in an area she claims sees so much gun violence.
Bess wasn't home when the shooting occurred because she changed her routine and went to church for a memorial Thursday night.
She said she brought her 7-year-old niece with her, but when they returned to their home off Southwest 221st Street, they found a huge crime scene and 13 shell casings outside their house.
Bess said her niece has seen enough.
"I told my auntie, 'Don't worry. We can be outta here in a minute,'" Bretashia Williams said. "She was crying and I was crying too. I said, 'I can't live here anymore.'"
"That's why I feel this way, because I'm protecting her and I don't want her to go through this," Bess said.
Bretashia lost her sister to gun violence.
Bess' sister is also fed up with crime in the area, saying something needs to change before someone innocent gets hurt.
"This week alone, it's been three," Gail Bess said. "We have a lot of kids in this neighborhood, and if we don't stop it, they're going to get hurt."
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Miami-Dade Police Department or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.