MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — An Apple Valley mother says her neighbor’s mistake nearly tore her family apart.

“It was the scariest thing that we have lived in our entire years,” Apple Valley mother Griselda Wilson said.

A bullet flew through their home, hitting a wall just inches from her daughter’s head.

There’s now a bullet hole over the head board in this mother’s room.

“I feel a little lost, I’m trying to process one thing at a time, it’s been really hard,” Griselda said.

A bullet that first broke through the master bedroom wall went into the living room and then broke through a third wall into Griselda Wilson’s daughters’ room where her two daughters, 17-year-old Aryana and 12-year-old Paige, were folding laundry Sunday afternoon.

“A loud noise, almost like a balloon pop came through and it shot through our dresser into the wall,” Paige said.

Miraculously none of them were hit, but for one daughter it was a close call.

“My oldest daughter turns around and sees the hole next to her face and she yells frantically ‘I almost got hit in my head’,” Griselda said.

The bullet came from the town home next door.

Apple Valley police say the man who fired the gun thought it was empty and shot towards the adjoining wall.

The shooter told the Apple Valley Police Department that he thought the gun was empty and firing a bullet was accidental.

“That mistake was this close to taking my daughter’s life away,” Griselda said.

Apple Valley police say they’ve cleared this case. They gave the 24-year-old male shooter a citation for reckless use of a firearm, which is a misdemeanor.

They did not arrest him and gave him his gun back.

“Basically what I’m hearing is ‘because your daughter didn’t get killed sorry we can’t help you, we can’t do anything’,” Griselda said.

Griselda doesn’t think the punishment is enough for her neighbor, who caused lasting trauma for her family.

“I’m scared. I’m continuously thinking what if another bullet comes through,” Griselda said.

“Every time I heard a noise that’s very similar to that, I will freak out and I will think back to what happened,” Paige said.

Management at the complex asked the shooter to move out since firing a gun violates the lease.

He’s still there, but is expected to leave by the end of the month.