Bullet pierces window as B’klyn family sleeps

A BROOKLYN retiree is living in fear after she was awakened by the sound of a bullet shattering her front window.

Lillian Vailes, 76, was asleep in her home on Chestnut St. in East New York when the piece of lead came whizzing through her front window and lodged in the living room wall.

Three of her adult children were home sleeping at the time.

“When you have people in the house sleeping and somebody shoots through your window, how safe do you think you are walking down the street?” asked Vailes.

The incident happened at 3:45 a.m. when she woke to the sound of shattering glass. She found her living room couch covered in glass and a bullet hole in a beloved print of a painting of flowers given to her by her 58-year-old daughter.

“My grandkids come and sleep on the couch there,” Vailes said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It could’ve been them!” Cops are trying to figure out whether the bullet was a stray or if it was meant for someone living in the single-family home, where Vailes has lived since 1969.

Police did not release any details about the incident, including who they are quizzing.

Vailes told the Daily News that cops told her daughter early Tuesday they had taken a man into custody in connection with the incident.

Vailes said she remembers a time in the 1970s when cops would come over and have dinner. She said that kind of community policing is necessary again. And she wants to see more cops patrolling on foot rather than driving by in patrol cars.

“We need something to deter all this noise going on,” she said.

Still, she had nothing but praise for the cops investigating where the bullet came from.

“The Police Department has been damn good to us,” said Vailes. “They’ve been so sweet.”

In the 75th Precinct, which covers East New York, the number of shootings is down a whopping 40% through July 17 — with 24 so far this year, compared to 40 through the same period last year.

The number of people struck by gunfire in East New York is also down 36 — with 28 people struck by bullets compared to 44 in 2015.