It was a quiet, ordinary Sunday in East Lake. Around 11:30 p.m., when most people would be home, getting ready for the week ahead.
Richard Jones had dozed off while watching Sunday night football inside his Terry Mill Road home. Then, without warning, several rounds of gunfire pierced the night.
"I heard about seven maybe eight shots," he recalled.
His wife jumped up at the sound to see what had happened, but Jones remembers cautioning her: "I told my wife, 'Don't look out the window yet. Step back! Some bullets might come through the window, you never know.'"
After a few minutes, Jones said he peeped out the window, where he saw an unfamiliar car idling in the street. Soon, other neighbors were filtering out of their homes. It didn't take long for all to realize something was wrong. Then, one neighbor noticed bullet holes.
"He said, 'Hey man, this car's been shot up!'," Jones recalled. He called 911.
Officers responded and found 33-year-old Tamika Trimble deceased inside the car. Her toddler was in a car seat in the back.
"At first, I thought it was a stuffed animal in the seat," Jones said, referring to the 1-year-old. "Turned out to be an infant."
Officers believe someone fired shots at two different locations at Trimble's car, only about half a mile apart. They also believe she attempted to escape the first location. Police said the shooters possibly followed her to the second scene where she died inside her car.
Jones said the Trimble was still alive when neighbors got to her car, and tried to get her to hold on.
"If it had been an accident, I would have opened up and try to help," Jones explained. "But it was a crime scene and I didn't want to put my finger prints or smudge none... So we just kept telling her, 'Hold on.'"
Jones said Trimble wasn't able to talk or let police know what happened. Police said the as-of-yet unknown suspect or suspects fired several shots at the car from multiple angles, and police said it's very fortunate the toddler was not injured. Jones agreed.
"She slept through the whole thing," he told 11Alive.
Jones, who said he's lived in the neighborhood since he was 17 years old, said he's never seen anything like this here. But the violence that touched his neighborhood last night has left him shaken.
"I've seen people die before, but it ain't nothing pretty."
