JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two men have been charged with shooting into a home after they fired guns in celebration on New Year's Day, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said. It was one of at least three cases of celebratory gunfire around Jacksonville.
Richard Gordon, 23, and Luter Love, 23, are each charged with shooting/throwing deadly missiles into a dwelling, which is a second-degree felony.
Investigators said the two men were firing weapons in an Arlington backyard and at least one bullet went through the back fence and into a woman's apartment in the neighboring complex about a dozen feet away.
Police said they were called to Playa Way just after midnight Sunday after reports that a home had been shot.
The woman in the home, Belinda Vanterpool, said she was in her bedroom when she heard a loud bang and then heard stuff falling from her walls. She went into the living room, saw her wall damaged and called police.
Vanterpool told News4Jax that she wasn't hit by the bullet, but the incident has left her terrified.
“I stayed there (in the closet) until morning. I didn’t sleep because I was really scared and nervous,” Vanterpool said. “I really didn’t believe it until the technician pulled it out and showed it was a 12 millimeter.”
She said since that night she has hidden in that closet every time she's heard loud notices that sound like bullets or fireworks because she's afraid her home could be hit again.
“I don’t want to be scared of every time they come here and knock on the door or knock outside. I have to run in the closet, thinking it’s a gunshot,” Vanterpool said. “I don’t want to come home and be scared. I haven’t eaten anything since that night because I don’t have an appetite because I’m so nervous.”
The officer who responded saw Gordon and Love in a backyard near the Vanterpool's home and spotted multiple spent casings on the ground. The owner of the apartment where Gordon and Love were gave police permission to search the unit and said no guns were there.
But officers found two pistols in a cabinet above the refrigerator. A Smith and Wesson pistol had an empty magazine and barrel, but appeared to have just been fired with a dirty barrel, police said. A Glock 19 was also found and had a magazine with 10 live rounds inside it. The magazine can hold 15. It also appeared to have just been fired, police said.
After the guns were found, Gordon admitted he and Love were in the backyard and just wanted to celebrate the holiday by shooting into the air.
One of the firearms was reported stolen in 2014, police said.
Vanterpool said gunshots are somewhat common around her neighborhood, but it didn't affect her until a bullet when through her wall.
A 54-year-old woman who was shot in the leg on the Westside on New Year's Day was also possibly hit by celebratory gunfire, police said.
Dierdre Tunsil said she head lots of fireworks right before 1 a.m. New Year's Day and went to bed. As soon as she laid down, a bullet came through the window, hitting her in the leg, police said. She survived.
A home on Melvin Road was also hit by gunfire on New Year's Day.