Young boys recovering after shot while asleep in west Charlotte apartment

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police are looking for the person who shot into a west Charlotte apartment overnight, sending two children to the hospital.

[IMAGES: 2 children hospitalized after gunman shoots into apartment]

Darryl Ervin, 11, and Jeremiah Ervin, 9, were shot in the arm and hip while they were asleep, but police said they are expected to be OK. Detectives told Channel 9 that the family was not targeted.

The mother said Darryl was shot four times, once in the hip and three times in the arm. Jeremiah was shot once in the arm.

Savannah Funderburk was one of the five adults who were inside the apartment.

"I was asleep when all this happened. I woke up in the hallway where I live and I just saw blood everywhere," Funderburk said. "They (were) scared. I was scared. The mother was scared. Everybody was scared for them."

The boys were on a list to receive gifts from CMPD as part of the CMPD Explorer's Christmas project, officers said.

No arrests have been made and police have not released a possible description of the shooter.

"If we find you, and we will, make it better on yourself by simply turning yourself in,” CMPD police Chief Kerr Putney said.

One of the boys had surgery Thursday, while the other will have surgery Friday.

“We have a family that’s hurting, that’s really hurting," Putney said. "That’s not the Charlotte way."

"Oh man, it's heartbreaking because I have kids that play around here every day,” neighbor Lacresha Norman said.

Investigators told Channel 9 that around 2 a.m., the gunman walked up to the back of the unit inside the Little Rock apartment complex on Leake Street, near Billy Graham Parkway and West Boulevard, and opened fire into a bedroom window.

"This is an anomaly, but this is something we're not going to stomach, we're not going to tolerate,” Putney said.

Children and Gun Safety Children and Gun Safety (NCD)

Channel 9 could see more than half a dozen bullet holes outside the home. Investigators said the shooter fired directly into the window.

"It was the boys my kids play with,” said a neighbor who didn’t want to be identified. “I was even more devastated because, you know, that they play together. This is an everyday thing. They go to school together."

Nobody else inside the apartment was hurt.

Officers told Channel 9 the shooting is not something neighbors would've expected and that the community has been doing an outstanding job of curbing crime recently.

“I know physically they’re going to recover but the emotional trauma will last a lifetime," Putney said.

Two 5-year-olds also live in the apartment, but they were not in the room where the shots entered. There were also five adults, including the victims’ mother.

"Of course I'm nervous only because we don't know who did it,” a neighbor said.

Crimestoppers has a reward of $5,000 for information leading to an arrest.

“What we can tell you is generally, it's not a random act,” Putney said. “We're just trying to piece it all together."

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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