MINNEAPOLIS -- For Jasmine Krebs of Minneapolis, the evening of Sept. 11 started out like any other.After finishing her homework and chatting on WeeWorld.com, a social-networking site for kids, the 11-year-old ran outside in her pajamas to look for a toy she left behind her family's backyard swimming pool.Then, around 7 p.m., came the sound of Jasmine screaming, "I've been shot! I've been shot!" Jasmine stood in the back doorway clutching the leg of her leopard-print pajama bottoms. Right away, her mother knew Jasmine wasn't pretending. "It was a scream I'll never forget," said Erin Krebs, 32.Jasmine was recovering from her leg wound at her grandmother's house over the weekend. But serious questions remain about how a bullet could have found its way into the Krebs backyard -- surrounded by a tall fence -- without nearby residents seeing a shooter or hearing gunshots.A Minneapolis Police Department spokesman said Jasmine's injury came at almost the same moment that police received reports of multiple gunshots at Richard Green Central Park. Police are investigating whether the incidents are linked. Improbably, the bullet may have traveled over at least five blocks of houses and trees, Interstate 35W and the Krebs' backyard fence before falling from the sky and hitting Jasmine in the calf, according to police.Police have taken photos of a lone bullet hole in the Krebs' pool and have kept Jasmine's bloodied pajama bottoms for evidence. Jasmine's wound was a quarter-inch deep; she was released from Hennepin County Medical Center late Thursday. "We may never know for 100 percent certainty what happened that night," Erin Krebs said.But some residents on the other side of I-35W believe a connection is possible. Shooting incidents have recurred in and around the park. For instance, residents said they heard between 10 and 20 gunshots Thursday night, a barrage that left bullet holes in at least two houses adjacent to Richard Green.One nearby resident, who declined to share his name, said he and his family dropped to the floor and crawled away from the windows as soon as they heard the gunfire. He later found four bullet holes in his house, including one lodged in the siding next to his front window. "This has got to change," said Della Meschures, a Central Neighborhood block leader. "We are living in a life-threatening environment."The gun violence has made many in this neighborhood fearful of venturing into the park, particularly after dark. Last fall, community leaders tried to organize monthly "movie nights" at Richard Green. But neighborhood leaders and park officials canceled the event after the sound of gunfire interrupted one movie, causing parents and children to flee. "You can't imagine the terror," Meschures said. "It was awful."Jasmine's wound may be the latest in a string of injuries involving stray bullets and children. Early last month, a 5-month-old girl was hit by a stray bullet at Powderhorn Park. Police said the girl was in her grandmother's arms at the time she was hit. Many residents in south Minneapolis still remember the 2002 death of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was shot while doing her homework at the dining-room table with her little sister. The bullet came through the wall of their Minneapolis home.For now, Erin Krebs wants to believe it was all just a freak incident and she's hoping her daughter will return to a routine of school, swimming classes and homework. Even so, Krebs says, she plans to "keep a watchful eye" on her daughter while she's playing outside; and she won't mind if Jasmine decides to stay indoors for a while."I'm not going to push her," she said.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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