Stray bullet goes through window of Minneapolis home, almost hitting sleeping child

A Minneapolis mother is calling for an end to violence in the city after her son was almost hit by a stray bullet. The 11-year-old was asleep when it came through his window overnight Friday into Saturday. 

“I’m just blessed that he wasn't hit,” said Crystal Rosebear, Darnell’s mother.

She showed us where the gunfire struck her home. 

“We don't know if that one hit first, that one hit first or that one hit first, “ said Rosebear, pointing to the house. “We don’t know, there's three holes.”

The most noticeable is through her son’s window. He was fast asleep in his bed, positioned against the window when the bullet tore through the glass. It missed him by inches.

When Darnell woke up in the morning and saw the hole, he ran to his mother. Rosebear found the bullet in his mattress.

“I felt on top and felt it went up right underneath where he was laying,” she said. “It just puts anger and fear in my body to know what could've happened.”

As KSTP reporter Callan Gray spoke with Rosebear, she became overwhelmed with emotion.

“The first thing that had hit my mind was thinking back, in 2008 I lost my brother to a stray bullet,” she said. “Just to think I could've just lost my son, it made me think back to when my mom lost her son back in 2008, how she felt.”

Her brother, Jesse Mickelson, was only 18 years old when he was killed. Rosebear told us she can still remember him laying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

“That just ran back in my head, like what if I came into this bedroom and saw my son here? Him not coming down in the morning like he normally does, I went upstairs and that was him lying there," she said.

Rosebear has eight children and told KSTP their family is now living in fear.

Two people were shot near 700 West Broadway on Friday night, according to Minneapolis police. On Monday just after 4:00 p.m., four people were shot on the 600 block of West Broadway.

Both scenes are within eyeshot of Rosebear’s house.

On Tuesday night, she said there was another shooting on the 800 block of Broadway.

“I went to go check on my kids, make sure they're okay, and [Darnell] woke up from it and was scared, he said 'I was going to sleep mom and they started shooting',” she said. “How do you tell a child they'll be okay when they've already been hit, [their] window hit by a bullet that went into their bed.”

Pastor Monica DeLaurentis, with the ICCM Life Center, stopped by to check on the family on Wednesday morning. Rosebear has been attending that church for years.

They prayed for protection as Rosebear calls for peace.

“People are reaching out to me about stuff happening at their houses and I'm like, it's just sad,” said Rosebear. “There are innocent kids fearful for their lives because of the stupidity of others.”

She is now trying to move out of the neighborhood, worried about how the violence will affect her children.

“I have to get my son out of here, for his safety, for his health and for my other kids,” she said.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS first met Rosebear as she was looking for more stable housing for her family in 2018, having previously been homeless. 

Rosebear has set up a GoFundMe to assist with the move.