Joan Horn has heard gunfire in her neighborhood, but she's never been so close to a shooting.
HAMILTON -- Bromley resident Joan Horn heard the familiar popping sounds of gunfire as she watched television in her Victor Avenue home Wednesday night.
Moments later, she heard glass break and an unfamiliar cracking sound right next to her, and screamed. Then she called police.
Horn, a Bromley neighborhood resident her entire life, realized one of the shots had rocketed into her home.
"I was so shaken," Horn said Thursday morning. "I am still shaken."
The bullet shattered a front porch window, sailed through a screen inside and bounced off a wood table behind her, landing on the first step of her staircase.
She shudders to think if she'd been getting up to answer the phone or get a drink of water. "It went right by here," she said, pointing to the bullet's path.
Then, on Thursday morning, she found a smashed bullet in front of her home while sweeping up her property. A detective told Horn he'd be by later in the day to collect it as evidence.
Police investigated the 10 p.m. shooting for hours Wednesday into Thursday, and Horn and other residents of the block say detectives placed several evidence markers on the ground as they investigated.
Two cars were struck by the gunfire, including Horn's, as well as the house across the street.
Male shot in Hamilton's Yardville area
Horn and witnesses, from talking with police Wednesday night, say an argument among two males in between two houses across from Horn's turned violent and a gunman opened fire on a man, who may have run right by Horn's home.
Hamilton police Lt. Jeffrey Martin said Thursday that detectives did not find any shooting victims, and nobody arrived at a local hospitals with gunshot injuries.
Martin also said witnesses reported two men talking near a home before the shots rang out, and witnesses reported two men running from the scene.
Detectives will be on the block Thursday evening again, looking for any video surveillance in the area.
Horn said her son and daughter have been suggesting for some time that she move out, but she's attached to the area.
"It's her home and residents look after her. "I don't believe they were targeting me," Horn said.
"I call this my hood," she said with a laugh.
Horn said police were quick to respond and they dug a bullet out of her car's passenger door, and she has no complaints with how they're investigating.
But she'd like to see more uniformed police in the neighborhood nightly.
"I'd just like to see more officers," Horn said.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.