Family seeks answers after shooting in apartment

Bullets just missed 2-month-old, family says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is looking into an Arlington apartment shooting after a family said a neighbor shot into their apartment, just missing their baby.

The family said the neighbor told JSO it was an accident when bullets barely missed the 2-month-old baby girl and the wife of Friednot Paulinis.

"The baby was lying, like, next to her in the cradle right there, and the baby woke up, and she's trying to change her diaper on the baby at 11 o'clock, and then, like, two minutes after that, the bullet just hit this wall right here, and then it hit the other wall right there," Paulinis said. "I'm, like, so scared and upset about it because I wasn't home and something like that happened. I'm so scared."

It happened in the St. Johns Forest Apartments on Merrill Road on Friday night.

Paulinis was at work at the time, but when he got the call from his wife, he immediately called the police.

"When I called the police, the police came in, and they said they talked to the neighbor, and they said it was an accident and right now, I'm not safe in the apartment," he said.

His wife didn’t speak on camera, but she said she is still scared.

"She never slept," Paulinis said. "She so scared. She went into the living room, went to sleep over there because she feels like she’s not safe because the gunshot."

The family is afraid to sleep in their bedroom. Paulinis said they've never had any problems in the past and he's never seen his neighbor.

"He could have apologized and said something happened last night," Paulinis said. "I called the police. I'd feel safe because he came to apologize."

News4Jax went to the neighbor's apartment to get answers, but no one came to the door.

Right now, that's not sitting well with Paulinis.

"If you want to try to turn off your gun, you can put it up or shoot outside or on the ground but not on people’s room facing my family bed," he said. "That’s not safe."

The apartment leasing office couldn't comment and said to contact the property manager Monday.