Bullets hit home of shooting survivor in Georgetown Township
GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Deputies in Ottawa County are trying to find out who is responsible for firing shots that hit two homes early Tuesday in Georgetown Township.
Around 2:30 a.m., four bullets hit Erica Pelton’s home near the intersection of Kenowa Avenue and Brookmeadow North Lane SW. One landed just feet from where she was sleeping.
Pelton survived an accidental shooting 28 years ago and the incident triggered memories of the trauma.
“It brought back a lot of just fears, anxiety,” Pelton said. “We heard bang, bang, bang, bang, bang and it was fast and loud. Very, very loud. I mean it sounded like it was hitting the house.”
Deputies: 2 Georgetown Township homes struck by bullets
After the gunfire stopped they discovered what was hit.
“My husband woke up and disturbed, I mean he was half asleep, and came out here to look and find out what happened and that’s what he saw the picture had fallen down,” Pelton said.
A bullet knocked a painting down in the home of Erica Pelton in Georgetown Township on March 5. A bullet hole in Erica Pelton's Georgetown Township home, which was hit on March 5, 2024. A bullet hole in Erica Pelton's Georgetown Township home, which was hit on March 5, 2024.
Her husband found a bullet on the living room floor. Another bullet hit the walkout basement porch and one got stuck in the siding. The bedroom bullet eventually turned up in the record collection lodged in a Pistol Annies album.
Pelton said the bullets appeared to be coming from across a nearby lake and also struck her neighbor’s home.
She knows the danger a stray bullet can cause. Before bullets hit her home, she just recently had a bullet fragment removed from the day that changed her life forever.
“March 1, 1996 I was 17 years old when a friend was playing with a gun in Jenison Meijer Parking lot and it went off. I was getting out and it went off and shot me in the neck and paralyzed me,” Pelton said.
Despite the challenges she faces every day, she is grateful for the abilities she has, like being able to move her hands. She wants people to know what reckless gun use can do.
“When you have four bullets entering a house at very fast speed you don’t know where they’re gonna end up. They thankfully did not end up killing somebody,” Pelton said.
If you know anything that can help investigators, contact Silent Observer or the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office.
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