Cachet Parker was putting on her shoes when she heard a pop Sunday night inside her Milford apartment.

A bullet had pierced the glass window of her back door at the Brightway Commons apartment complex, sending glass all over her floor. Then there was crying and her 13-year-old son's announcement: "They're shooting."

"That's when I saw the blood running everywhere," Parker said.

Her boyfriend's 4-year-old daughter had been struck in the back of the head by a bullet. The News Journal is not naming the girl at this time because she is a victim of crime.

The child was taken to Milford Memorial Hospital, but then transported to Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, according to Milford Police, who are investigating the shooting.

Police were dispatched to the apartment complex, located at 300 Aurora Place, about 7:45 p.m. Once there, they learned there had been a fight at the apartment complex between multiple people in the courtyard on the south side of Allen Way.

Someone in that fight then fired a handgun.

"One of the bullets is believed to have been the one to strike the child," said Detective Timothy Maloney, a Milford Police spokesman.

Parker said the child had been standing feet from a small Christmas Tree, under which a Barbie doll was waiting for the girl to open.

"She's just a baby," Parker said, adding she wrapped the girl's head in a towel and tried to stop the bleeding as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

The girl was conscious following the shooting.

The morning after the incident, a small pile of glass still lay on the living room floor. The girl also remained at the A.I. duPont Hospital.

Parker did not know when the girl would be discharged from the hospital, but said she would remain overnight Christmas Eve.

"It's not going to be a good Christmas," Parker said. "She's not here."

This is the fourth shooting reported so far this year in the town of about 11,000 people – three of those victims were located in this apartment complex.

A man in his 20s was shot on March 19 after police said he met with the unknown suspect in the parking lot of the Mispillion Apartments, about a 2 miles south of the Brightway Commons apartments.

Police responded to Brightway Commons on April 13 for a report of two gunshot-wound victims. Both were taken to Milford Memorial Hospital and one was later transported to Christiana Hospital. Police declined to provide additional details about their injuries. No suspects have been announced and the shooting remains under investigation.

"I've lived here 10 years but I'm ready to move out," Parker told The News Journal on Monday. "All they do around here is fight and shoot."

Milford police are asking anyone with information to call 302-422-8081.

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 319-1855 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com

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