WEST BRIDGEWATER, MASS. (WHDH) - Police seized several high-powered rifles in West Bridgewater on Monday after investigating a stray bullet that had broken through a home’s window while multiple children were inside, authorities said.
Officers responding to a report of a stray bullet entering the 173 Lincoln St. home with several people and children inside around 1 p.m. recovered the rifle round, which reportedly came to a rest on top of a small table, West Bridgewater police said.
Resident Dave Fernandes says his daughter was standing near the window that the bullet went through.
“It just came from so far away. It lost a lot of its velocity. It just happened to come through the window,” he recalled.
There were no injuries reported.
“This all could have ended very differently. I just, I thank God,” Fernandes said.
Prior to this 911 call, police received a report about gunshots heard in the area behind Shaw’s Supermarkets Corporate Offices on West Center Street, which is located a short distance from the Lincoln Street incident.
Officers continued to hear “spurts” of gunfire coming from the wooded area behind Shaw’s but could not locate where it was coming from on foot because of the thick terrain and marsh-like conditions, according to police.
The Massachusetts State Police Air Wing responded to the scene and reportedly recorded four people with a large array of weapons deep in the woods at what they described as some type of campsite.
“They were just hovering and then you could hear off in the distance them saying something on a loud speaker,” Fernandes said.
A police sergeant obtained information about one of the people believed to be in the woods and made contact with them, confirming that they were one of the four individuals seen by the Air Wing unit, police said.
During this phone call, the four individuals voluntarily exited the camp through a boat ramp located off of West Center Street. They were taken to the West Bridgewater police station for questioning and later released.
Authorities seized several high-powered rifles, according to police.
Investigators have yet to determine if the bullet that entered the home on Lincoln Street was shot from any of the four people found in the woods.
Anyone with information is asked to call West Bridgewater police.
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