House Near Manito Sprayed With Bullets South Hill Family, Neighbors Nervous After Early Morning Drive-By Shooting

The double-paned window at the front of Lynn White’s home looks like a spider web, the 15 bullet holes connected by lines of splintered glass.

The house, in the 300 block of West 19th, abuts Manito Park and is across Bernard from St. Augustine church. It was hit at 3:51 a.m. Sunday by a shower of bullets that went through furniture, lamp shades and plants.

One shot bounced off a stereo speaker and grazed the head of Mike Herbst, White’s 18-year-old son, who was sleeping on the living room couch. The bullet lodged in the couch.

Herbst slept through it.

“It was a trip,” Herbst said Sunday evening. “I looked up - there was a bunch of holes in the glass. I looked over and there was a slug, right next to my head.”

The eight people who live in the home are nervous, as are neighbors. Residents of the well-manicured South Hill block say the White house was targeted because of Herbst.

They spilled out of their homes into their yards at 4 a.m. Sunday and worried about their own children’s bedrooms.

Police said the shooting was gang-related.

White said that’s not true. She admitted that Herbst had troubles in the past, but said he’s straightened out. Herbst may drive a low-rider car, with bass echoing through the block, but he’s not the reason for the shooting, White said.

Sunday afternoon, neighbors gathered in small groups and talked about the drive-by shooting. None wanted his or her name published in the newspaper. They said they are outraged, scared and upset.

“This is really, really a nice area,” said one neighbor. “This kind of stuff does not happen in this neighborhood. We’ve got lots of children here. We’re very concerned about safety.”

They said they want to fight back and band together. None plans to move.

Neither do the victims of the shooting. Herbst, White, her boyfriend, her mother and four other children live in the green home. They’ve lived there for six years.

On Saturday night, the family rented four movies, as usual. Sitting in the living room, they plowed through three. Margaret Graves, White’s mother, sent everyone to bed at 1:30 a.m., even though they hadn’t yet watched “Frankenstein.”

Graves was the first person to hear the shots. She sleeps in the basement, along with the children. She tore through the rooms and up the stairs. Three slugs were stuck in the wall behind where she stood. She called police.

“The dirt was flying, the glass was flying,” Graves said.

Meanwhile, Steve Jenkins, White’s live-in boyfriend, ran outside. The car was gone, but the smell of gun smoke hung in the air. White ran downstairs after Jenkins.

“I saw Mikey, and his eyes were closed,” White said. “I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ “

Herbst had a red scrape above his right eye. It’s about an inch long and looks no worse than a shaving cut.

Police arrived, collected evidence and talked to witnesses. On Sunday, police found the car used in the shooting. It had been stolen. Nobody’s been arrested.

After police left, family members stayed awake until 8 a.m. They slept a fitful three hours and got up to clean.

Bullets had broken through the home’s French doors, through a small tree in the house, a chair, plants and a sewing machine box. A bike tire was flattened, the reflector broken. The family spent all day cleaning up the home. They emptied the vacuum cleaner five times.

Sunday night, family members barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers. They were scared to go to sleep. Herbst said he wanted a cast-iron coffin to protect him.

“It’s been on my mind every second of the day since it happened,” Jenkins said. “Why us? I don’t know.”

, DataTimes