Detroit children shot while sleeping in home sheds light on violent summer for city's youth

Two children shot inside Detroit home

Detroit police say two black pickup trucks pulled up to the home at 6:20 a.m. on Thursday. The passengers then got out and shot up the house, hitting an 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, with one getting hit in the arm, the other in the foot.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A barrage of bullets pierced the front windows of a home on Detroit's east side. Inside, a family was terrified as two children were shot while sleeping in their beds.

What they're saying:

Detroit police say two black pickup trucks pulled up to the home at 6:20 a.m. on Thursday. The passengers then got out and shot up the house, hitting an 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, with one getting hit in the arm, the other in the foot.

Both were in the upstairs portion of the home where they were sleeping when they got shot. 

Thankfully, those injuries were not life-threatening, according to officials.

Big picture view:

A look at the home would reveal the horrifying aftermath. Five bullet holes littered the front window. Meanwhile, the home shows obvious indications of children being there, with a safety seat on the front porch and a child's bike and basketball. 

It is part of an unfortunate pattern of violence in Detroit over the summer, as on Sunday night, 6-year-old Rylee Love was killed at his house as he waited for his dad to come home.  

A week prior, an 11-year-old was shot on Bramell, also in his home. 

Earlier in July, a 2-year-old was hit by a stray bullet as he watched the fireworks. 

In June, 4-year-old Samir Grubbs and 18-year-old Daviyon Shelmonson-Bey were shot and killed at a playground on Detroit's east side. 

Community Response:

Zeke Williams founded ‘New Era Detroit’ over a decade ago, and they have dedicated their lives to safer streets in the Motor City. Williams told FOX 2 that more people have to get involved to prevent more tragedies like this one, and more people have to speak up. 

"It's a lot of innocent people that are being killed and affected by this, particularly kids," Williams said. "So what we have to do as a community is make sure that we continue to apply pressure on everyone that's out here who is going against the grain. We have to step up and say we can't be scared of these people because we've got to be busy protecting the babies and the community as a whole."

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2 children shot while sleeping inside house on Detroit's east side

"They were in the upstairs doing at that time what children should be doing," Ewing said. "They were sleeping."