SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Neighbors who heard the shots ring out at a Sioux Falls home where a woman died are alarmed by this week’s gun violence. They say their once-quiet neighborhood is going through some troubling changes.
Gene and Tammy Franks awoke to gunfire late Wednesday just down the street from their west Sioux Falls home.
“It sounded like somebody was actually banging on our patio door window. Really loud. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Twice,” Gene Franks said.
It was an eerie repeat from the weekend when shots were fired at the same home.
“I heard a pop and it woke me up and I went, is that a gunshot? No, it had to be a firecracker. It’s awful early in the morning,” Tammy Franks said.
On Saturday alone, someone fired 16 shots at the house. Brett Preszler, who lives two doors down, heard most of them.
“It was like sporadic. It was like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, instead of like a semi-automatic,” Preszler said.
Jon Merchan has lived here for 22 years. He says it’s still a good neighborhood in spite of recent crimes on his street.
“Last spring, we had a drug house four houses up the street, or three houses up the street here that was raided and they were making meth, apparently, and then shootings four houses up the street so, it’s not quite the neighborhood it used to be, I guess,” Merchan said.
People who live in the neighborhood say the shootings are especially troubling since they happened less than a block from Hayward Elementary school.
“There’s children all over this community and it could have been one of them. It’s bad enough that anyone had to lose their life, it’s just heart-breaking,” Tammy Franks said.
The shootings have some people considering adding more security around their homes.
“We’re looking into some security cameras and things like that,” Gene Franks said.
“We keep doors locked, the windows locked. But it doesn’t prevent a bullet from flying through your house,” Tammy Franks said.
A neighborhood on edge, hoping the gunfire has ended.
“I guess we’re old school and you don’t let people scare you out of your own home,” Gene Franks said.
The residents we spoke with say Sioux Falls police have been a reliable presence in their neighborhood and say the growth of the city makes it more of a challenge for officers to patrol the streets.
