Ashburn Home Feels Like An 'Active Crime Scene': Report

ASHBURN, VA — An Ashburn resident still can't sleep after a bullet pierced the wall of her family's home last week, leading the police to order the evacuation of her home and others on her block. "It's still kind of an active crime scene. Normally I'm a pretty strong person — but I can't sleep," Ashburn resident Pat Donovan told WTOP.

Donovan walked into her kitchen Thanksgiving morning and found a bullet had shattered tiles before ending up lodged in another wall, according to the report. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said Donovan’s neighbor, Bernard R. Ofori, fired the .45 caliber handgun shot into a shared wall in his home and it went through the wall into Donovan’s home.

"I turned on the light and saw pieces of tile on the floor and I looked up and saw the bullet hole. The next thing I know I’ve got a SWAT team here," Pat Donovan told WTOP.

Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested Ofori Nov. 28 after a four-hour standoff at his house after deputies responded to the gunfire complaint. Ofori was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and reckless handling of a firearm. Ofori is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in Leesburg on no bond.

During the standoff, Donovan's family and several residents in adjacent homes in the Belmont Greene community of Ashburn were evacuated as a precaution. The residents were taken to Belmont Station Elementary School for safety.

Ashburn is home to a large number of townhouses that share wallls, and the Thanksgiving Day incident isn't the first time a stray bullet has been fired into a neighbor's house in the community. In April 2014, an Ashburn resident contacted police when he found that a bullet had travelled through a bedroom wall and through his bed. The victim reported hearing a commotion in the overnight hours. Deputies discovered someone in the adjacent house allegedly discharged two rounds from a firearm overnight. One of the rounds was fired into a shared wall and the second was fired outside the back of the home.

Donovan told WTOP she is now focused on getting her home repaired from the bullet damage. She is talking with her insurance company and her homeowners association.