“a bullet come through my (glass) back door, shattered the door, ricochet around my dining room, and land 2-3 feet from my dog’s bed”

“Dear PoPville,

I fairly recently had the super-shitty experience of being a random victim of shots fired in DC — for me, it was having a bullet come through my (glass) back door, shattered the door, ricochet around my dining room, and land 2-3 feet from my dog’s bed. I don’t know how to put into words how terrifying it was to come home from work to find a bullet in my dining room. I shouldn’t have to. And I shouldn’t have to lie awake at night playing out the alternate scenarios for that bullet in my house.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge, this summer/year-to-date in DC have been full of much more horrific shooting stories, including shooting deaths. I know that I’m a lucky victim, not a dead or an injured one. But that all leads me (and many others) to say: gun violence in this city feels like it is out of control. And being a lucky victim doesn’t change the fact that I get scared every time I need to use my back door.

I have nothing but good things to say about the quick, smart, and calming response I got from MPD the day of the shooting. But the good officers of MPD can’t do it all. I’m sharing this because I hope the other points on the chain of prosecution, as well as relevant DC government officials, take notice that this community is currently living at the whim of those with guns. Because something has to change. I’m sick of being scared to walk out my back door and a hell of a lot sicker of reading regular stories of people, including kids, being killed or injured in shootings in DC.

Dealing with property damage is a PITA, but I am beyond thankful that I’m not dealing with what easily could have been much worse.”