Shots fired into Penny Drive room with 4 children playing inside

Multiple shots were fired into the room of a home on Penny Drive where four children were playing, Ottawa police say.

It happened Wednesday at about8:45 p.m. at a home in the 2900-block of Penny Drive, near Carling Avenue and Richmond Road in the Bayshore neighbourhood.

The shots entered anupper window at the back of the home, police said.

No one was injured, but four young children were playing in the room the shots were fired into.

"We don't believe those kids were targeted, but when you're shooting at a house and it goes through a window and you've got four kids playing in the room where the window was, yeah, it's very concerning," said Ottawa police spokesman Const. Marc Soucy.

At the Ottawa Community Housing development on Thursday evening, people said the incident worries them.

"I was in school this afternoon and I heard my buddy talking about some shots in the west end at Bayshore mall. ... And I said ...I've got to go and check on my mom and my two nieces because they live right here, they live right on Penny Drive, so I had to come and check them out," saidRashiek Webster.

"I have to make sure they're OK, because you never know what's going to happen. ... After 10, [my mother] doesn't open the door any more. It's not a bad neighbourhood, but sometimes you just have to open your eyes to see what's going on. It's crazy."

Resident Roger Hooper has lived on Penny Drive for 12 years. His grandson was sleeping upstairs when the shots were fired.

"It's scary, it's too close to my home," Hooper said.

"I arrived when all the cops were here.It's getting too close to home."

The guns and gangs unit is investigating, police said. Any witnesses are asked to come forward.

Anyone with information is asked to call the guns and gangs unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5050. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477(TIPS), toll free at 1-800-222-8477.