Caught on Camera: Multi-car shootout in Dallas neighborhood barely misses sleeping toddler
DALLAS - Home surveillance cameras captured a rolling gun battle through Dallas’ Oak Lawn Heights neighborhood early Sunday morning, with bullets barely missing a sleeping toddler.
People thought they were hearing fireworks when the shootout started, then in a sleepy haze, realized it was 5:30 in the morning.
Dozens of shots can be heard during the Sunday morning incident. Tires screech as the cars, with at least two people inside each, roll onto Parkland Avenue. Someone is lifted out of the pursuing car on the left side of the video to get a better shot. When the gunfire stops, the people in the other car run.
The footage is from Sharmin Ashtaputre and Nam Duong's surveillance camera.
“This is like true Hollywood. I mean, it was so dramatic. I don't think we could have made this up,” said Ashtaputre.
They woke to the noise and called 911, but police were the first to point out bullet holes in their home.
“They let us know those are bullet holes, and my daughter was still in there at that point,” said Ashtaputre.
They checked footage from the baby monitor, which they do not feel comfortable sharing with the public, and to their horror, their 3-year-old daughter had dodged gunshots as she slept. They found bullet holes in the door and wall of her nursery.
“You hear glass shatter. You see the curtains move from the bullets going through them… She like, pokes her head up and she starts screaming, 'Too loud! Too loud!' She starts covering her ears and saying, 'Too loud! Too loud!'” said Duong.
Oscar Ramirez, lives three doors down.
“I mean I can't be safe here in my own house. My car got hit. I'm glad we're safe.”
He made his own discoveries as well, like a gun in his backyard.
“I guess they came over here and dropped off their gun,” he said. “I used to feel safe, and now I don't.”
Ashtaputre and Duong are now considering replacing her shattered windows with bulletproof glass. Other people in the neighborhood are buying surveillance cameras. Neighbors say they're also planning a community meeting to talk about safety and security and how to prevent this from happening again.
Dallas Police are not commenting on this incident at this time.