‘They Could've Murdered Me': Boy Nearly Hit After Stray Bullet Comes Through His Bedroom

What may have been a night of target practice for an unidentified gunman almost turned deadly for a young Philadelphia-area boy who was nearly struck by a stray bullet while he was sleeping.

"They could've murdered a child," said Zach Marino. "Like me."

The 12-year-old boy was asleep in his room inside his home on the 600 block Bryn Mawr Avenue in Radnor Township around midnight Wednesday when he woke to a noise in his room.

"It just sounded like, I don't know, like wood cracking in half, " he said.

Zach and his parents initially thought an animal had struck the outside wall of the home.

"We heard that noise, and we thought a deer hit the house," Zach's mother, Laura Marino, said.

It wasn't until Saturday that Laura Marino discovered a bullet-sized hole in the wall in her son's room. They then found shrapnel on the floor and, finally, a bullet that police believe came from a .38-caliber gun.

Police determined that a stray bullet had ricocheted off a wall inside the house and then pierced the wall of Zach's room as he slept just five feet away. The bullet then bounced off a dresser before it landed on the floor.

Investigators later found two bullet holes in the "Route 320 South" sign on the 300 block of Bryn Mawr Avenue, located about 70 feet away from Zach's home. Police determined that an unidentified gunman fired several shots at the sign and one of the bullets missed, ultimately striking Zach's house before it landed in his bedroom.

"We have somebody who was doing something extremely dangerous that could have caused very serious injuries to the family and we'd like to get it resolved," said Radnor Township Police Lieutenant Christopher Flanagan.

No arrests have been made, and police have not yet released a description of any suspects. They also told NBC10 recent snow on the ground is hampering the investigation, as they’ve been unable to locate any rounds on the street.

They are asking anyone who was in the area of Bryn Mawr Avenue at midnight on Wednesday and saw something suspicious to give them a call.