Massachusetts

PD: Neighbor Fires Rifle, Bullet Strikes Near Sleeping Teen

A Massachusetts family is grateful no one was hurt after a neighbor allegedly fired a bullet into its upstairs apartment, striking near where a 15-year-old girl slept Monday night.

"Thirteen people in this house, and no one got hit by a bullet that went flying through walls and stuff," said a father of three who lives on the third floor of a building in Mansfield. "A bullet came through the floor, came into my daughter's room, bounced off her dresser."

The father, who does not want to be identified, says she got scared and came out of her room holding the bullet.

"It was still hot," he said. "She didn't know what it was."

The father called police, who found a loaded 9mm rifle in the apartment below and arrested 29-year-old Timothy Downs.

The family's neighbor is facing charges of reckless child endangerment, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and improper storage of a firearm.

Investigators say Downs has been arrested before for drug charges and has two cases pending out of Wrentham District Court.

"It makes me feel really mad that people are so dumb," said the teen's dad. "We teach anti-violence in my home. Sometimes you just can't avoid it. It's a scary world we live in."

Downs is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Oct. 25.

Relatives at court said he discharged the firearm accidentally.

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