A Little Rock apartment flooded Sunday morning after a stray round from a shootout struck a pipe, making "a rain forest in my living room," the apartment's resident said.
The bullet hit a pipe in Dee Alisa Dean's bathroom, causing the unit to flood. She said another bullet struck the outside of her apartment.
"I went home from work, sick," Dean, 50, said. "I was laying in my bed. All of the sudden, I hear bang, bang, and my water started running."
Officers were called to the Terra Vista Apartments, 4811 Terra Vista Circle, shortly after 4:15 a.m., a police report states. Witnesses told police that they saw three or four people removing the hood from a vehicle and putting it into a green pickup when another person stepped out of an apartment and started shooting at them.
The group got into the truck and fled, returning fire as they left the complex, according to the report.
Responders from the Little Rock Fire Department turned off water and electricity to the unit, Capt. Jason Weaver said.
"They shut that off to stop the problem," Weaver said. "But they'll still have to get a plumber in there and then an electrician to make sure it didn't short anything, and they'll have to give it time to dry out before they can occupy that space again."
Dean said the apartment is heavily damaged and that she isn't able to live in it at this time. The ceiling is falling down in her living room. She's having to stay with a relative.
Officials with Terra Vista offered to pay for Dean to move her belongings if she moves into another apartment at the complex. But Dean said the unit they have available for her is in a building that isn't in good condition.
Dean said the officials told her that if she doesn't take the apartment, then they won't pay for her to move her property. They also said the incident was not their responsibility, according to Dean.
Dean said she disagrees because the security gate at the complex is broken.
"So yes, it's your responsibility that somebody came in that didn't belong there," Dean said.
Dean said she is not planning to move into another unit at Terra Vista.
"I would not rent from Terra Vista again if I had a choice," Dean said.
Dean is still struggling with the event.
"I'm still real shaky," she said.
But she said she's glad it was her apartment and not her neighbors' because young children live in the two apartments on either side of hers.
Officers said they found a bullet hole in the exterior brick, as well as a bullet hole in the rear column of a vehicle parked at the complex. Investigators found six rifle casings at the scene but are unsure whether those are connected to the shootout, since the damage to the apartment and car appeared to have been caused by a shot from a handgun.
No injuries were reported. No suspects were named, and no arrests had been made at the time of the police report.
Metro on 04/30/2019