RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Richard Pressley is trying to wrap his head around what happened to his cousin, 7-year-old McKenzie Miles, along Herndon Village Way Sunday night.

“She’s a happy child,” Pressley said about the girl who was shot and wounded. “From my understanding, she was just out here sitting amongst her father. They were outside chilling [when] shots got fired.”

Pressley said Miles was hit in the back and arm by gunfire. Raleigh police said the shooting happened around 8:15 p.m.

Officers said she was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, but at the time, they didn’t appear to be life-threatening.

Monday, investigators could be seen up and down the street.

For Pressley, there are still questions as to what led up to the shooting and who fired the shots.

“My little 7-year-old cousin getting shot two times, sometimes you’re not expected to live in a situation like that,” Pressley said. “It’s a big deal. It’s a problem and an issue that’s really concerning us, for the simple fact that you shot an innocent child when the situation had nothing to do with her.”

Ray Fonville lives in the neighborhood next door. He was in his home when he saw police and found out what happened.

“It’s just a bad situation,” Fonville said. “I kind of hate seeing a child get injured, any child. Especially so close to me.”

Meanwhile, Pressley hopes they find justice for his cousin.

“Turn yourself in,” he said. “At the end of the day, you hit a child. Regardless of what it is, if you were man enough to do what you did, you’d be man enough to handle your responsibility.”

Pressley said that Miles has been “responsive” and is expected to make a full recovery.

Raleigh police haven’t released any suspect information.

This shooting was the second reported in Raleigh within hours on Sunday. Around 3:30 p.m., a man suffered non-life threatening injuries after being shot at the Milburnie Road Apartments.

News13’s sister station CBS 17 is also digging deeper into crime stats for the area around Sunday’s shootings.

When looking at the calls for service along Herndon Village Way, from May 2017 to September 2019, there were three calls for either “shots fired in area,” “shots into residence” or a “shooting.”

During that same time frame, for the 2400 block of Milburnie Road, there were four calls of “shots fired in area” or a “shooting.”

This does not include the shootings from Sunday.

For a look at crime statistics for the past five years in the city of Raleigh, click here.

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