When Jennifer Davis heard the gunshots outside her Center Street home late Saturday night, the 42-year-old woman immediately got up and - with her body - shielded the two cribs where her twin 17-month-old grandchildren were sleeping.
"I heard 'pop, pop.' I jumped up and threw myself over the top of the cribs. 'Oh, God, please let this stop,' I said to myself," Davis said.
"I knew what it was in an instant. I knew it was gunshots. Then three more went off," Davis said Sunday afternoon during a brief interview outside her home in the 800 block of Center Street.
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PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
A child’s Big Wheel toy is just a few feet from the yellow chalk markings city police used to identify ballistics evidence from Saturday night’s shooting outside a home in 800 block of Center Street. Twin 17-month-old toddlers were sleeping in a front room of a nearby house at the time.
A man who was shot was taken in a private vehicle to the Williamsport Regional Medical Center, about three blocks away, by his brother, Jonathan V. Adderly.
Adderly, 22, was taken into custody after allegedly punching a nurse in the nose when hospital staff had to forcibly remove him from the room where his brother was being treated, city police said.
Minutes before the gunfire erupted, Davis was in a first-floor front bedroom watching television as the twins slept in the same room. The twins' mother, a student who also lives in the house, was studying for finals at a friend's house.
"My dog started barking. I then heard some people arguing outside. It was pretty loud. Then it sounded like someone was being pushed up against my banister out front here," said Davis, a city native who lives in the house with her husband and seven other family members.
She peeked through a Venetian blind and saw some movement in the shadows. Then the shooting began.
One of the bullet casings landed 6 to 8 feet from the bedroom window.
When the first two shots were fired, Davis actually saw flashes from a gun.
"They are shooting out front," Davis screamed to her husband, who was in an upstairs air-conditioned bedroom. "He thought it was fireworks. His window was closed. He didn't hear what I heard. I heard the arguing and fighting."
She called 911.
"I am angry. I am so angry ... it's unreal to have this happen this close to my house. It (a bullet) could have come through the window and killed my grandbabies," Davis said.
"I was only worried about protecting my grandbabies. I can take a bullet a lot better than they could," she added.
"There was blood on the sidewalk, all the way up to my porch. I used bleach and water to remove it this morning," Davis said
The woman said there were not enough police officers Saturday night to handle the volume of emergency calls.
"They were short on cops last night," Davis said an officer admitted to her outside her house Saturday night.
For an extended period of time, only two officers were on hand to secure the scene.
"Apparently it was very busy (for police) last night," she said.
"Since I moved here in 2004, we have chased drug dealers off this street nonstop," Davis said.
No information was released about the gunshot victim's age, identity or the severity of his wounds. He reportedly remains hospitalized. The gunman remains at large.
Adderly, of 615 Campbell St., got into a confrontation with hospital staff shortly after bringing his brother into the emergency room, Patrolman Jonathan Deprenda said in an affidavit.
Deprenda said Adderly admitted to assaulting the nurse, saying he was "hyped up" over his brother being shot.
Adderly allegedly punched nurse Mark Paulhamus in the face, breaking his nose, Deprenda said. He was arraigned before District Judge James H. Sortman on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment and committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Police impounded the van Adderly used to bring his brother to the medical center. He is not the owner, police said.
