6-year-old Kearns girl grazed by bullet while sleeping in bed

Unified Police investigators on the scene of an early morning Kearns shooting which came inches from seriously injuring a sleeping 6-year-old girl inside a family home. Photo: Gephardt Daily/Monico Garza/SLCScanner

KEARNS, Utah, Aug. 21, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A 6-year-old Kearns child came within inches of being seriously injured — or worse — after being grazed by a bullet as she slept in her bed early Friday morning.

A Gephardt Daily news crew was the only media outlet on scene when visibly shaken police officers first began carrying out their investigation and realized just how close the child had come to suffering a devastating injury by a shot fired from outside the home in the 5700 block of Westslope Drive.

“The bullet went through the east wall of the house, went through a headboard, went through a pillow, traveled the length of the 6-year-old’s body and hit her in the foot,” said Unified Police Lt. Manfred Lassig. “EMTs from Unified Fire checked the child out and determined her only injury was a bruise to her foot. The bullet didn’t break the skin.

Unified Police investigators on the scene of an early morning shooting in Kearns which came within inches of seriously injuring a sleeping six year old girl inside a family home Photo Gephardt DailyMonico GarzaSLCScanner

“We’re just extremely lucky — by inches — it could have come through and if it wouldn’t have started losing its velocity — if it had then hit her in the head, we would’ve been investigating a homicide of a 6-year-old child,” according to Lassig.

Lassig said the bullet appeared to have been fired on an upward trajectory from outside the home although a woman inside the residence who heard a shot thought it had come from a passing car.

Lassig also said six people from a nearby residence were being questioned, and the shot may have been fired during an act of domestic violence.

Regardless of the circumstances, Lassig said whoever made the decision to open fire was facing serious charges, including aggravated assault and felony discharge of a weapon in a neighborhood.

“Here you’ve got some person, who in a fit of anger, or in a fight, or an argument, feels it’s the appropriate thing to do, pull a gun out and crank rounds in a neighborhood.”

Lassig said a woman with a possible connection to the case was being questioned by West Valley City P.D.

Gephardt Daily will update the story as more information becomes available.

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