Deputies: Bullet traveled through wall, wounded 1-year-old in Sampson County

The Sampson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a report of shots fired at 25 Bumpy Lane just before 9 p.m. and found Allie Ruiz carrying an infant who had been shot in the torso.

Adahia Rodriguez was taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center and was later airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

Ruiz was putting her daughters to bed for the night, when she says the nightmare began. Esther Mangual, a family friend helped translate the conversation from Spanish.

"The baby was sleeping in the other bedroom, and she was laying down here with her daughters. She was waiting on her daughter to fall asleep before she could return to her other daughter and when she was in the process of going to bed, that's when they started shooting," she said.

Investigators said that two armed men approached a man attending a birthday party at the residence and an altercation ensued. That man ran toward his vehicle and the other two men opened fire, causing a bullet to travel through the wall of the home and strike the infant.

"She was laying right here and the bullet came through here and hit her in the hand and the chest," Mangual said.

The child has since been released, but authorities continue to look for the men responsible.

"They should have though that there were kids in here. If it were not going to be her, it would have been one of us or another kid," she said.

Captain Eric Pope said he is saddened that an innocent child was injured.

"We live in a society where we have individuals who don't have consciousness," he said. "That's an unfortunate thing. They have no regard for their own safety or the safety of anyone else."

Authorities were not able to provide descriptions of the men who opened fire, but said one of them was wearing a mask.