HAZLETON -- A silent night turned dangerous in Hazleton on Christmas. Police are now searching for a suspect after a 17-year-old boy was shot and left for dead Friday night.
Police say the 17-year-old from Hazleton is recovering after he needed surgery. Now, investigators are trying to figure out why, on a day where many families were celebrating the holiday, a teen was shot and left in the street.
Amidst the holiday decorations, there is now a bullet hole in one home and orange spray paint on the corner of North Locust Street in Hazleton. Police were called here after shots rang out Christmas night.
"We found at least four residences that were struck by rounds from this shooting incident. We also found at least one vehicle struck by bullets from this,” said Lt. Kenneth Zipovsky.
Lieutenant Kenneth Zipovsky tells Newswatch 16 a 17-year-old boy was shot in the back and flown to the hospital to be treated his injuries.
"There might be another person out there, who may have been injured, who fled the scene we're still trying to locate," said Lt. Zipovsky.
"I was sitting in my living room and I heard like fireworks going off," said Nancy.
Nancy from Hazleton did not want to show her face on camera. She took these pictures of the ambulance and police vehicles from her home down the road after the shooting.
"I came outside and there like ten cop cars here and there was kid laying in the street," said Nancy.
There are markings all over the ground here where police say they found some shell casings but what's really concerning to the people that live here, the bullet that struck their home. They say this is the last straw for them.
The family who lives here did not want to go on camera. Seeing the bullet marks was frightening for other neighbors too.
"My house is so close it could have been me you know. I don't want gunshots coming to my house," said Patricia Mumie.
"It happened while people should have been spending time with their families and this is something that's a very grave situation,” said Zipovsky.
There is no word on a motive in the shooting in Hazleton.
