Babysitter, toddler witness 'terrifying' shooting near Auburn elementary school

Auburn, Wash. - A mom from Auburn is speaking out after her young daughter and babysitter witnessed what they described as a drive-by shooting while walking to a nearby elementary school.

Carly Willis says the bullets are hitting too close to home, with at least two other shootings reported in the same area that same week.

Babysitter Brittany Reid, pictured below, was walking Willis' 3-year-old daughter Calida to Gildo Rey Elementary, to pick up her own son, when suddenly the bullets were flying.

"There was just pop, pop, pop, pop," said Reid.

A bullet hole in a home off 37th St SE marks the spot where those shots rang out near I St., less than half a block from where Reid and Calida were standing.

"Panic, you know—it’s the kind of moment where you aren’t sure if you are going to survive," said Reid.

She saw the gunman leaning out of a car window, before he pulled the weapon back inside and hid it.

"He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, so he was coming directly at Calida and I," said Reid. "He was swerving back and forth down the road going who knows how fast. There was really no place for us to hide."

When they were finally safe, Reid called Calida's mom. The youngster was unaware of how close she came to getting struck by a bullet.

"My sitter called me in tears and just very shaken up, and my daughter is in the background like ‘pop pop pop,’" said Willis. "Like, ‘Oh this is so fun’. That that was terrifying, as a parent, to experience." 

Nearby Gildo Rey Elementary, where Reid's son was in school, went into lockdown during the shooting.

The same week, Willis said shots were also fired on M St behind her store, Antiques Marketplace, and off of 29th St SE where injuries were reported.

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"In my opinion this is all because of the pursuit bill. We tried it, it’s not working. Something has to change," said Willis. 

Meantime, Reid and Willis are counting their blessings that neither Reid nor Calida was injured. 

"Could have been hit by a bullet by a car," said Reid. "It was terrifying."

"It gets worse and worse every time I think about it and her proximity to those shots," said Willis.

 Auburn Police are investigating the incident.