15-year-old girl hit by stray bullet while she slept in bed in SE Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Kimberly Aguero wiped away tears as she stared at her bandaged foot, feeling lucky to be alive.

"I think it's good I'm alive," she said. "It could have hit me in the head or something."

The 15-year-old is recovering after being shot by a stray bullet while she was asleep in her own bed early Thursday morning.

Around 4 a.m., shots rang out outside the family's apartment on Winkler Drive in southeast Houston.

"My mom called me, and I came over, and I saw my sister was bleeding from the bottom of her foot," said Kimberly's older brother Alejandro. "She was fine, but we didn't know she was fine at the moment. I was just worried an actual bullet hit her."

Kimberly was sent to the hospital where she was treated and released.

Her brother said he later found a bullet fragment in her bed. It appears the brass railing on her bed stopped the momentum of the bullet and kept her from being more seriously injured. Another bullet hit the wall.

Now, investigators are working to determine where those bullets came from.

Since this was a stray bullet incident, police may be able to use their ShotSpotter technology to help in their investigation. The technology is being tested in a pilot program in southeast Houston.

RELATED: 13 Investigates: HPD's technology can detect gunshots down to a home's backyard

Our 13 Investigates team spent time with local and federal law enforcement to learn more about high tech tools that have put hundreds of Houstonians behind bars.

ShotSpotter is a high-tech gun detection system that's being marketed and sold to law enforcement agencies. The company claims it can tell law enforcement officers where shots came from seconds after someone pulls the trigger.

Company representatives claim sensors detect gunfire and send audio recordings of the shots fired to officers along with the location in real-time.

In the first four months of 2021, the system alerted officers to more than 2,500 shots fired within the five-square-mile area where the ShotSpotter sensors are placed, police said.

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