NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Fireworks weren’t the only pops people heard Thursday night in Norfolk.
Hours after the fireworks fizzled out, gunshots rang out as part of celebratory gunfire.
Britney Hopkins had just come home from work and was listening to the fireworks with her teenage sons. As she lay on her bed, she heard a noise that made her jump.
“Next thing I know, I heard wood crackling,” Hopkins said.
A bullet crashed through Hopkins’ window, three feet from where she lay. You can see the holes it made as it pierced her curtains.
“I was petrified. I was scared because nothing like that has ever happened,” Hopkins told 10 On Your Side.
Hopkins has rented her home in Park Place for the last two years. She questions now if she wants to renew her lease.
“It’s to the point where I don’t know if we’re going to be here for New Year’s Eve,” Hopkins said. “I can’t, this year we were safe but what about next time.”
Hopkins immediately called Norfolk Police, who took down a report. The bullet is still in her bedroom, lodged in the wall. She’s thankful it didn’t go any further and that her family was not harmed.
“We hear all the time about stray bullets hurting kids, hurting anybody,” Hopkins said. “It’s real. Stop. Just stop shooting around peoples’ houses.”
Celebratory gunfire is illegal in Virginia. Those caught doing it could face several charges, fines or time in jail.