Residents: Shots sounded like explosion

CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) -- Neighbors are on edge after shots were fired into a home in Cranston.

It happened in a neighborhood where police were just looking for clues a couple of months ago for a different crime.

The drive-by shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Friday at 157-159 Franklin Ave.

Three shot gun blasts hit a first floor apartment. It’s not clear yet whether a couple and their 18-month-old baby, who live downstairs where the bullets struck, were home at the time.

“They don’t go anywhere or do anything. Why would somebody want to shoot up their house?” said Linda Sharron, a neighbor. “He works, she stays home with the kid, she’s pregnant.”

Neighbors who also live in the multi-family home heard everything.

“I heard loud, you know, booms. It was like about four or five of them,” said Jecenia Polanco, an upstairs neighbor. “Boom, boom, boom. Like, really, really loud.”

“This was the loudest I’ve heard it. It sounded like a big gun,” said Jose Morales, Polanco's boyfriend, who also lives on the second floor with their daughter.

Neighbors expressed shock that an incident like this happened in their area.

“This is a nice neighborhood, nobody bothers anybody,” said Richard Ashness.

The shooting happened about a half a mile from where a police pursuit ended early Friday, but officials have not said if the two scenes are related.

“People move in and out of that house all of the time,” continued Sharron.

Police tell us there were no injuries as a result of the shooting, and that they found an empty bullet casing in front of the home.