Mother, 3 kids shaken as 20 bullets rip through their home — a block from Hazel Crest police station

Lakeisha Williams cried to her children to get down as about 20 bullets aimed at her Hazel Crest home shattered windows Tuesday.

Williams was in disbelief. It was 5:20 p.m. Her daughter, 13, had just walked in the front door. And the Hazel Crest police station was about a block away.

“All of the sudden, just moments after she walked in from school, we just heard ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ Just gunshots everywhere. And I saw them being spread through my whole house, and all I could do was tell them to drop to the floor and call on Jesus,” she said.

Her son, 14, and her other daughter, 15, were uninjured except for some shattered glass that cut her son’s knee as he hit the floor.

“Me and my children could have been dead and gone. It was nothing but God’s grace and mercy,” she said.

Police were there within seconds but the shooters sped away in one, possibly two, cars, Hazel Crest Deputy Chief Dale Mitchell said.

Williams, a nurse’s aide who cares for hospitalized COVID-19 patients at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, moved into the home in December.

Mitchell said investigators believe Williams and her family were not the targets, adding the previous residents of the home were known to police for “lawlessness” and “disturbances.”

“This was just brazen,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been a copper for 28 years and this lady right here, really, is just a nice lady, you know, gets into nothing, and for this to happen to her is just sad.”

Williams lives on a dead-end street. A small creek flows between her home and the police station, which is about a block away.

“My kids are panicky, they’re stressed, they’re afraid,” Williams said. “But this community has embraced us and that is a blessing.”

On Friday afternoon, Hazel Crest resident Kim Chalmers dropped off a $400 Walmart gift card she purchased with money donated by other residents.

And Early Walker, CEO of W&W Towing, a local towing company, announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the shooters.

Hazel Crest Mayor Vernard Alsberry Jr. said the village of about 14,000, which borders Homewood, will rally around Williams and not stand for such violence.

“We’re out here today to support her and let the public know that we are working together to actually support young people in our community so that they are not these types of individuals that shoot into homes, but also to let people know that we’re not going to stand for this,” he said.

Anyone with information should call Hazel Crest police at 708-335-9640.