Woman hit by gunfire while on toilet, other occupied residences also shot

A woman was hit by gunfire from outside while sitting on a toilet inside an apartment on Palmer Drive in Pontiac, one of two shootings in the city reported within six minutes of each other on Wednesday night.

The bullet narrowly missed the woman’s 6-yearold son, but no other injuries were reported in either of the two incidents, the sheriff’s office said.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the woman hit by the bullet said she was on the toilet in a second-floor bathroom of an apartment when she heard a loud noise. She then realized she had been shot in the thigh. The injury is not believed to be life-threatening, the sheriff’s office said. The woman was transported to an area hospital where she was listed in stable condition.

Deputies found that the bullet had penetrated the building’s second floor exterior wall and continued into the bathroom wall. A spent rifle bullet was found outside the bathroom where the victim’s child had been standing, the sheriff’s office said. Two rifle shell casings were located in the roadway behind the apartment building, the sheriff’s office said.

Six minutes after that shooting was reported, at 10:04 p.m., a drive-by shooting was reported to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies responded to the 200 block of South Marshall Street where a two-unit flat and a home next door had been hit by gunfire. Four children, ages two through nine, were in the residence at the time along with three women. None were injured.

Deputies found one spent bullet outside the upstairs unit of the two-unit flat. An unoccupied vehicle parked on South Marshall Street just north of Whittemore Street was also hit. The sheriff’s office said 28 shell casings were found on Whittemore Street within the roadway.

No information on suspects was available.