Sleeping 9-year-old inside home is shot in face in Miami drive-by

A 9-year-old boy is recuperating after he was shot in the face while sleeping inside a Miami house, police said Friday.

The shooting happened in the 800 block of Northwest 55th Terrace, Miami police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes said.

Witnesses said they saw a light-colored SUV leaving the area after someone opened fire at the home, where several other children were inside. No one else was injured.

Police were summoned to the area about 3:30 a.m. Friday after the apparent drive-by shooting.

"Even though he had a serious injury in the face, he is considered stable," Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll said at the scene.

The child, Dontrell Darling, suffered a grazed a deep graze to the cheek and has been taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4.

The house, with three adults and four other children inside, was “riddled with bullets, Reyes said. Two cars parked outside also were hit, their windows pocked with bullet holes.

Reyes said police don’t have a motive.

"It’s a sad situation when a child can’t be a child, when at 3 o’clock in the morning , a child can’t sleep comfortably in his bed," Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said.

Neighbors described waking up to dozens of shots.

“Sounded like a war,” neighbor Albert Doyle told CBS4. He said he heard dozens of shots and dropped to the floor. “It just kept going and going.”

The child is in serious condition at Jackson, Miami police reported on Twitter.

Miami Herald Staff Report