CROTHERSVILLE

A Crothersville man is urging the public to use safe gun practices following an incident reported to police last week.

Jim Grace said around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, he was at his home in the 8000 block of East County Road 700S working on his brother’s truck when the incident happened.

Grace said his brother and son were helping him work on the truck when they heard multiple bullets hit areas around them.

“I heard two pops, and my brother asked whether it was guns or boards smacking together,” he said. “I told him I thought it was a gun, and then about that time, they started hitting the house.”

The bullets had traveled from a home about 800 yards away, he said.

That’s when everyone outside went to the ground to take cover, Grace said. He also yelled to his wife, other son and his son’s girlfriend, who were in the house, to get down on the floor.

His other son was in the hallway when the shots were fired. Grace said three shots went through two walls with one going behind him and the other in front.

“Another one went through the wall, but it was stopped by my coat on the rack,” he said. “Around 10 were fired in our direction.”

After the gunfire stopped, five bullets had traveled through the exterior of the home. About 10 shots were fired during the incident, he said.

Grace said he drove to his neighbor’s house and saw two teenage boys in the front yard with a gun. The boys told him they were shooting at birds on the family’s bird feeder.

Grace said he told them to stop shooting toward his house.

He said he was upset and was even more so when the boys’ parents did not immediately check to make sure everyone was all right. The mother has since apologized and told Grace the boys would no longer have access to guns and would help cover the costs for the repairs.

Grace said both of the boys apologized and were upset following the incident. They had told police they thought a hill behind their house would have prevented bullets from traveling past it, according to a police report.

No charges were filed in the incident, police said.

The news follows an April incident about a mile or mile and a half away from Grace. In that incident, a bullet went through Donna Gay’s home in Crothersville.

The bullet traveled through four walls and nearly hit her husband and son. Police believe that shot was unintentional but that it came from a high-powered gun.

For Grace, he’s thankful no one was hurt.

“It was super close and could have been worse,” he said.