DETROIT (WXYZ) — "I've never had any fear to be in any area of Detroit, but now I wish I could go as far away as I possibly can get," said Michelle McClain after her home on the city's west side was shot up three times in six days.
The overnight shootings began on July 28.
"We were getting ready for bed, just winding down, when the shooting started," said McClain, who was home with her teenage son and daughter as well as her brother who was spending the night.
"We thought it was firecrackers and then we realized that someone was actually shooting in our house," she told 7 Action News.
McClain said she and her family have not had any issues with anyone that could point to a motive for the shootings.
The second shooting was just 48 hours after the first one.
"I was actually asleep this time and I heard what sounded like firecrackers and it turned out to be shooting. I said they're shooting at our house again," McClain said.
The third shooting occurred just last week Wednesday. And McClain knew it was time to move.
"It's really hard because I just don't know," she said through tears of fear and frustration. "I just don't know who is doing this or why and I don't want to put my family or even another property owner in danger. It's just a lot."
McClain and her family will be able to leave the house she's renting and afford to move thanks to a number of churches that are part of the Faith-Based Coalition of Detroit, an organization that works in partnership with Ceasefire Detroit.
Thanks to donations from the churches, the coalition is able to help victims of crimes with various means of support including financing any need to relocate.
"It means so much to us because we're involved in the fight. We want to help," said Bishop Daryl Harris of the Faith-Based Coalition of Detroit.
"A few churches got together, started donating funding. We started supporting on a very small level. And then last year, we were very blessed to receive a grant that helped us and assisted us in doing this kind of work and furthering it," the bishop said.
Harris said the crime victims they've been able to help often reach back out to them to let them know they're doing better in a new place. Most importantly, they feel safe.
McClain said she and her children are grateful to be able to move to a place where they won't fear for their lives.
She said, "For them to come forward and assist us, it helps a whole lot at a time when we really don't feel like we have anybody on our side."
If you'd like to make a donation to assist the coalition's mission of helping crime victims, you can do so, via CashApp, under $FBCDetroit1.
