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Gunshots fired through two Murphysboro homes

Within a two-day period, bullets from apparent random gunshots were fired through the windows of two Murphysboro homes.

According to the Murphysboro Police Department, the two incidents are being dealt with as separate investigations until reports prove otherwise.

The most recent incident, which was responded to by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, occurred between 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday on Cedar Road while the inhabitants of the residence were camping at Lake Murphysboro.

Tracy Stewart, resident of the Cedar Road home, returned to her home with her family after a night of camping and said more than an hour had passed before she discovered a bullet had been fired through the upstairs bedroom window, penetrating her daughter's closet door on the opposite side of the room.

"I guess the sun was hitting it just right," Stewart said, "and I looked up and saw that [the bullet] had gone clear across the room."

According to the Sheriff's Department, officials believe the bullet had been fired "from a vehicle in a random incident of vandalism."

Sheriff's Department officials said the bullet found will be examined at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab located in Carbondale.

A residence in the 700 block of Jenkins Street, which is located on Murphysboro's north side, also reported damage to property resulting from gunshots less than two days before the Cedar Road incident. According to the Murphysboro Police Department, officers responded at approximately 3:55 a.m. Thursday when a caller reported hearing a possible prowler followed by sounds of striking windows on the west side of the home.

Officers on the scene then discovered two gunshot holes in the living room window of the Jenkins Street residence. They also recovered a projectile from inside the home.

Murphysboro Police Chief Jeff Bock said there was no new information on the Jenkins Street incident and the department is waiting for the results from the Illinois State Police Crime Lab regarding the recovered projectile.

Bock also said both Murphysboro Police and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department would be in contact with each other if evidence surfaces that the two shootings have similarities.

"We are keeping in touch," Bock said, "just in case they are related."

But what has happened to Stewart's home has not caused her to fear her Cedar Road neighborhood.

"I am not scared," she said. "I just want them to find out who did it, but I don't know if that will happen."

Factoid: Anyone with information on the Cedar Road incident are asked to call the Jackson County Sheriff's Department at 684-2177. For information to report on the Jenkins Street occurrence, call the Murphysboro Police Department at 684-5244.